Crouching tiger, Hidden Ranma : Revisited
by DestrinBriar
Summary: Partial rewrite and continuation of a story from Ryowolf of the same name. What would happen if Jusenkyo automatically locked your form? What if Ranma fell into a different pool at a younger age? How stupid can Genma be? Here you can find these answers.
1. Prologue

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Ranma

Disclaimer:Ya only get one! I don't own Ranma, or any of the characters introduced until chapter 6. Viz video , and Rumiko Takahashi. Any of the characters who don't belong to her up to chapter 5, belong to Ryo-Wolf. He started this story, and i'm picking it up where left off with his blessing. There are some minor edits that I've made, and some other slight changes, but its basicly the same.

Author notes-

Some differences between canon and non canon - The curses are locked normally, and the "locking ladle" instead unlocks them. As you will see later, while you can fall into two different springs, and they do mix, there appears to be a certain amount of control you can have between forms, even if its not always consious, although this only applies to the cursed forms you end up with. So if Mousse fell into the spring of drowned duck, and then the spring of drowned monkey (come on, he has no eyesight. he's the most likely for it to happen to at random. I'm not picking on him!), he could turn into a duck, monkey, or a hybrid of the two. Cold water will normally put them in the form they aquired last from the cursed pools.

Characters may not be quite the same as they are in canon, due to the changes in the timeline. Enough said.

Speech " "

_Italics_

Sounds

Signs [

Chinese (" ")

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Prolog: Jusenkyo

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"Welcome, honored guests, to the legendary training grounds of Jusenkyo." A fat, chinese man stood before a fat, japanese man with a young boy beside him, the two were carrying large packs and the small child seemed to protest this as often as possible.

"Well, this doesn't look to be all that dangerous." _Damn! The boy has been getting way too soft in his training, he needs the harder training sooner to toughen up! I knew we should have gone to that training ground in the middle of that active volcano first... _Genma Saotome was not happy. The appearently horrible training grounds of acursed springs was nothing more than a joke, just some simple balance and endurance training, what's so dangerous about a bunch of springs anyway, what could happen, you get wet?

"We might as well, give it a shot! Come on boy!" Genma dropped his pack and vaulted to a nearby pole, while the young boy dropped his pack and jumped aswell, he didn't make

it to the top of the pole so instead clung to the side and climbed on top of it.

"Come on, pop! This is too hard.." The 9 year old boy was having some trouble with the idea of fighting his father on top of these poles, he seriously

doubted he'd be able to leap from pole to pole, let alone fight at the same time.

"Quit whining like a little girl and fight!" Genma launched himself at his son while the guide was screaming at them for some reason, the small child lept in an attempt to escape the blow from his father only to meet his fist head on. The small child was sent hurling through the air like a bullet from the barrel of a gun right into a spring about 10 yards away.

"You'll have to do better than that, boy. You jumped right into that blow!" Genma raced across the tops of the pole to the pool his son landed in and waited on top of a pole while the guide ran up to him.

"Oh no! Young sir fall in spring of drowned beast! Tragic tale of a strange creature that fall in spring 8,000 year ago. Now whoever fall in spring take body of beast!" Genma looked at the guide in shock, _Shape shifting magical springs?! No wonder this place is dangerous...Wait a minute, why'd he say "beast" and not "Boar" or "Lion" or something?_ Just then, a creature that could only be described as what you'd get if you shoved a tiger and force bred it with a dragon erupted from the pool, wreathed in flames.

"What the hell is that thing?!" The fat martial artist could only stare in shock at the small creature, it had the basic build of a tiger, but had a head, paws, and skin that seemed to be a combination of a cat and lizard, its front paws seemed to be built for both walking and grasping.

"Sir! We should run! young customer doesn't seem pleased!!" The Saotome man didn't need to be told twice as he burst off at a speed he didn't even realize he was capable of, his son-turned-demon looked like he was having trouble walking on all fours while the fat martial artist and the guide went running for the guide's shack.

"What happened to my son? Is there any way to reverse it?!" The guide was breathing heavily while putting various objects in the way of the door.

"I afraid not, Jusenkyo permenent. Only way to undo curse require ancient Musk artifact, but even with it cold water change customer back to creature." The guide had just put his bookshelf infront of the door when it burst open in an explotion of flames, Ranma had finally figured out how to walk and even how to project the flames from his body, he may be a cub but he was still dangerous.

"N..Now boy, don't do anything hastey!" Genma was sweating, and not just because of the heat his son was producing, The Saotome man was backed up into the corner of the hut had was currently being stared down by his son, if he could even call him that.

_"I hate you pop! I'm a freak! You'll pay..."_ If Ranma had ever realised he was a cat that line of thought would have been completely different as he shot a

fireball from his mouth at the cowering man.

"Yow!!!" Genma dodged out of the way as a hole was blown in the back wall of the hut, He knocked over a pot of water the guide was going to make tea with and splashed the cold liquid onto Ranma, who instantly howled in pain. Genma took that opportunetly to bash the fiery cat over the head with a chair and run like hell, vanishing into the forest.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: The Musk

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--7 years later--

Ranma was currently laying in a cave in the mountains of china, eating a rather large boar. He had grown quite large through the years and was now the size of an adult tiger, and although his lizard like attributes set him apart from an actual tiger, he still looked enough like one to pass for such at great distances. Over time, he had gotten control over several things that accompanied his new body, one being his ability to produce flames, and oddly enough, control flames that he wasn't responsible for. Camp fires and forest fires were under his control as well, and it came in quite handy for when he wanted to take the food from campers, they always had the greatest foods, but he knew, somehow that he should not be seen. He was also fortunate enough to be able to put out his own flames, walking around constantly on fire drew far too much attention to himself and also usualy burnt down things in the general area. That didnt' even begin to touch the trouble with bathing. One of the biggest problems he'd found, was that cold water when he was on fire, burned horribly, although never left a mark.

Snap!

Ranma was brought out of his stupor when he heard the noise of people walking through the forest, If there was one thing Ranma hated it was Humans, having completely forgotten he was once human himself. The tiger-dragon let out a growl of hatred before leaving the cave and preparing to attack, Human meat didn't have a very good taste to it, but for all the senselessness and stupidity he'd seen from them, he would kill them for encrouching on his territory. And he,

unlike the humans, would not let the food go to waste.

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("Lord Herb, what beast do you plan on taking for your bride?") A young boy with slited eyes and what appeared to be wolf ears was standing beside a tall man wearing scale armor with black and white hair.

("Only the finest creature could posibly be worthy of royalty. We need a creature that is strong, fast, and intelligent. An ape may do...") Herb turned towards a nearby tree where a small monkey with a flower in its fur was chewing on some fruit when he was suddenly startled by a loud roar of a fierce beast. Turning to look, he came face to face with a flaming creature that didn't seem to be very happy with him.

(" What in Kami's name...") The rest of his sentence was cut off as he was met with a face full of flames at point blank range, The Musk Prince was hurled into a nearby tree by the sheer force of the blast while the boy looked at the creature in horror.

("Lord Herb!!") The boy turned to the massive flaming beast and began to move at blurring speeds, hurling knives at the creature. Unfortunatly Ranma was too fast for the boy and lept out of the way of the barrage, rebounding off a tree trunk and pining the boy to the ground with his great weight, the flames on his paws were burning holes in his clothing while the young boy was sweating from the intense heat, Ranma was inches from tearing off a piece of the boy's

face when a chi bolt sent him flying back into a tree.

("Mint, are you alright?") Herb pulled the dog boy to his feet while he was clutching the paw shaped burn marks on his chest in pain and staring at the dazed tiger hatefully.

("Those flames, they aren't natural. What is that thing!?") Ranma had managed to get to his feet but still had blurly vision.

Herb had grabbed Mint and dashed behind a tree.

("That creature, it has a power that could rival that of the great dragons! It is perfect to be my bride.") Mint looked quite shocked and spared a look to the still dazed ranma who was trying to walk straight.

("But lord Herb! That thing is male, females are much more coopertive after the change and will accept our people as mates, a male would sooner rip your head off on most occasions, they don't take the suddenly female body well.") Ranma had finally gotten his vision back and was now looking for where the two annoying humans were hiding, catching their scent, he moved in on his prey.

("I do not care, the chances of finding another creature like that, let alone a female are almost non existant. With its powers over flames I do not think we can take it down alone, We will need Lime and maybe even Basil before we can bring it to Jusenkyo.") The tree suddenly errupted in flames sending Herb and Mint scrambling out of the way, The musk prince sent another chi bolt at Ranma before grabbing Mint's arm and dashing into the forest.

("Come, a retreat is the best tactic right now.") Before Ranma could recover from the blast the two musk warriors were no where in sight, The giant tiger beast let his flames die down before returning to his cave to lick his wounds and think about what just happened. Those humans, had been unlike any he'd encountered before. They felt more familiar to him, yet very wrong at the same time. They were like beasts, but with the taint of humanity.

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("Are you sure you saw that?!") Herb and Mint were standing infront of a man who looked like a cross between a man and an elephant, Lemon, the General of the Musk Army.

("Are you calling me a liar, Lemon?") The man began to sweat at the tone in the princes voice, he wasn't one to be questioned, after all.

("I'm sorry Lord Herb, but the creature you described sounds a little far fetched.") Mint stared at the man before ripping a small hole in his shirt.

("You want proof, General?") The dog eared boy ripped away most of the cloth on his right shoulder and revealed a scar shaped like a tiger's paw right below his arm.

("Mind explaining how I could get a mark like this from a figment of our imagination? let alone four?") Mint then showed the other mark on this opposite shoulder and pulled up the legs of his pants to reveal two more on his shins, the general and nearby warriors gasped in amazement by the marks before Herb continued.

(" I need one of your warriors to help me catch this beast, Lime has already agreed but I will need Basil's skills to keep the beast from turning us into ash.")

The general nodded before walking away to be replaced by a man that looked to be more Falcon than man.

("You called for me, my lord?")

("Are you still skilled in the bow, Basil? Its been a long time since we've been at war?") Herb asked, challengingly, already knowing the answer

("Of course, I am the best archer in the kingdom Prince Herb!") Herb smiled at this and nodded his head.

("Good, then bring your bow and arrows and come with me, I have a job for you.") Basil bowed before grabbing his weapons and following Prince Herb back to Ranma's den, joined by Lime a little later.

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Ranma couldn't understand it.

Humans shouldn't be able to do those things, The blasts of energy that one man fired from his palms was simular to his fire, but different in many ways while that boy had a speed that was unheard of in the human world. That shouldn't be possible! Only beasts had the right to those abilities, the humans were nothing but cowards that resorted to those tools of theirs to survive.

("Come on, it was over here.")

Ranma instantly recognised that voice and let his flames come alive, standing on all fours and exiting his den to spot the intruders.

So the humans wanted more did they? That was fine with him.

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("This is where that monster attacked us, its den should be around here somewhere.") Mint was looking around for Ranma's cave while Basil readied his bow.

Lime and Herb were standing ready for Ranma's attack.

And that's when it happened.

All present turned their heads towards a small cliff where Ranma was standing, flames dancing across his body with an intensity and heat of an active volcano. Basil pulled back on the bow string with his arrow in place and let loose the wooden shaft at the flaming beast. the shaft was instantly burned to cinders by Ranma's flames while the arrowhead continued on its path and pierced Ranma's hide right above his back leg. The massive beast roared in pain

while Lime and Mint ran up the cliff side in an attempt to flank the injured tiger.

Unfortunatly they never came close.

Both warriors were sent flying away by pillars of flame that burst from the ground infront of them, the arrowhead had been reduced to nothingness and the wound was already healing as Ranma jumped down to pounce on Basil.

("Not today!!") The bird man lept into the sky and dodged ranma's pounce while pulling back on his bow string, he was reaching insane heights of nearly 70 feet when he let loose another arrow aimed at Ranma's back. The warrior had some how powered up the wooden dart and that strange boost plus the effects of gravity nearly caused the bolt to break the sound barrier as it dug deap into Ranma's back, nearly passing straight through him.

("Now! Get him while he's recovering!") Herb charged up some chi while Mint began to let loose a barrage of knives, Basil landed and pulled back on his bow string once more, preparing to criple the beast before him. As he held his bow, he was concentrating on the tip of the arrow, and it started to glow a light blue.

But Ranma wouldn't have that.

Basil had to stop in his fusing chi into the arrow when Ranma was suddenly surrounded by several pillars of blistering heat, the pillars began circling him and everyone stopped and watched in awe for a second before realising what he was doing.

("He's preparing to fire an attack! Stop him!!") Fire began to form in Ranma's jaws as the pillars began to spin faster, Mint once again began hurling blades but each one was burned, and warped, fallng well short of Ranma when they passed through the heat of the pillars. oddly enough even Herb's chi bolts where being deflected or absorbed by the rotating pillars as the ball of fire in Ranma's jaws became roughly the size of a basket ball. The pillars all stopped and converged

on a single location in front of Ranma just as he let go of the fireball, the flames collided with the heat sending a massive arrow of fire flying at the shocked archer. Basil was instantly engulfed in flames and let out a scream of agony before falling to the ground in serious pain.

("You're mine...") Herb let loose a huge chi bolt that collided with Ranma and sent him flying into the mountain side, he smashed into it creating a massive spider web crack before slumping to the ground in uncoinciousness. His flames died out as Herb smirked before heading to Jusenkyo, Mint carrying Basil and Lime dragging Ranma.


	3. Chapter 2

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Chapter 2: Nyannichaun

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Herb, Lime, Mint, and Basil were currently on their way to Jusenkyo, an uncoincious Oni-Ranma in tow.

("I don't know about this, Herb.") Mint complained, he was currently helping Basil walk after being horribly burned by own of Oni-Ranma's blasts, Lime was

still dragging the unconsious beast and having some difficulty while Herb was leading the way to Jusenkyo.

("It took all four of us to take it down, and Basil was quite injured, I don't think we'll be able to stop it if it fights back after the change.")

("It will be easier after the transformation. This beast has a thick hide, but that won't carry over to a human body.") The Musk Prince cut away some low

hanging branches as the four of them continued on, after about two minutes of walking, they finally reached Jusenkyo.

("Ah! welcome guests, to the legendary training ground of...holy crap! IT'S BACK! AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!") The guide ran into his hut at top speed and blocked off the door with every item at his disposal. The Musk warriors looked a little confused before shrugging it off and approaching the Nyannichuan.

("Here it is, Lime. Dump him in.") The tiger man nodded his head and pulled the creature onto his shoulder, he was about to hurl Oni-Ranma into the Nyannichaun when his eyes shot open and his body instantly went aflame.

("ARG!!!!!!!!!") Lime is sent flying back into a nearby spring by a fireball from Oni-Ranma's jaws. Mint dropped Basil and attacked the beast with his sword only to be swatted into another spring.

("LIME! MINT!") Herb snarled and began hurling chi blast after chi blast after chi blast right into Oni-Ranma's face. The massive flaming creature dodged out

of the way and lept into the air in a downward pounce, only to be met in midair by Herb who grabbed him by the neck and hurled him downward towards the

Nyannichaun. with a massive splash Ranma was dunked, Basil was transformed by the water while Herb slowly hovered down to the floor.

("Lord Herb, we've been cursed!") Basil was now human and female, but still injured as she looked up at Herb.

("Don't worry, you won't be stuck like this for long, it may not be a permenant fix, but the ladle will return you to your true forms.") Herb told her while keeping his eyes locked on the spring, knowing better than to be distracted by Brasil's newly grown breasts. Tora-Lime and Inu-Mint climb out of the pools and attempted to walk over to Herb, by some stroke of irony they had landed in the Springs of Drowned Tiger and Wolf and were looking at their bodies in shock. Everyone was brought out of their stupor when the Nyannichaun exploded in a pillar of fire and was instantly evaperated as a single figure let out an inhuman roar.

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Ranma was confused, this place seemed oddly familiar and he was getting REALLY bad vibes from it, all he knew was that is was a REALLY bad idea to fall into one of the springs. The great fiery monster quickly sent both of that Human's friends flying into those evil springs, unfortunetly that seemed to make the alpha male angry as he shot his strange energy at him. Oni-Ranma dodged and attempted to pounce the male only to see him fly into the air and hurl him into

a pool.Oni-Ranma felt the water wash over his body and put out his flames as a strange tingling sensation spread across his entire body, he suddenly became a lot smaller and a lot slimmer, curving in areas and buldging in others, Ranma looked down at his paws to see they were no longer paws, but hands and fingers, looking over the rest of his...or her body came to the realization that Ranma was now a Human Female, a HUMAN female!!!!!!!

"RRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" With a roar of anger and hatred Onna-Ranma's body suddenly exploded in flames, causing a pillar of fire to be blown from the spring she was standing in and evaperate the water, she suddenly felt another tingling feeling as fur began to sprout all over her body, she changed slightly and looked at herself one more to see that she was now a Were Tiger, or Tigress to be more exact. Not knowing how the change was made,

and not really caring for that matter, Ranma lept from the spring in a fiery fury, letting the flames coat herself like they always had.

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Herb looked in awe at the Humanoid, but obviously female, tiger that just lept from the ditch the spring used to be located in. Were-Ranma landed infront of Herb and put her flames in place, the prince had to leap out of the way of several fireballs hurled at him as the tigeress went into a frenzy of flames and blasts since she had a lack of mobility, probably due to lack of balance on two legs, although she was doing far better than he had expected.

("I don't understand, why did it become this creature instead of a woman!?") Herb lept into the air and began to hover in place while hurling chi blasts down at Were-Ranma. Ranma didn't take this for long before he shot a huge blast of fire downward to propel herself into the air, Herb was too shocked to see the massive comet smash into him, sending him flying towards a certain amazon village. Were-Ranma landed and bounded off on all fours after Herb, planning on finishing the job. The three newly cursed Musk's could only watch in shock, and hope Herb would be victorious.

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Shan Pu, Great grandchild to the village elder Cologne, was going throw a kata with her bon buri when she saw something quite unusual, after all, it wasn't everyday you saw the prince of the Musk Dynasty on a crash course with your backyard. The purple haired amazon dodged out of the way as Herb collided with the boulder she had been standing on, shattering it.

("What are you doing in the amazon village!") Shan pu took on a defencive stance as Herb stood up and barely gave the amazon a second glace before a fireball

came flying down at him, Herb lept out of the way as a crater was burned into the ground and a flaming Were-Ranma emerged.

("Good, I thought you would run away...") Herb instantly began attacking Were-Ranma, covering his arms with chi to prevent himself from being burned while

Shan pu could only stare in dumbstruck awe at the scene before her: Herb, prince of the Musk Dynasty, sworn enemy of the amazons was currently doing battle

with a walking inferno in her backyard. What the hell was going on today?!

"RRRRRRRAAAAAAOOOOOORRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!" Were-Ranma swiped at Herb sending him flying out of the yard and into the dirt path inbetween buildings and followed

in pursuit, going down on all fours and waving some sparks off her tail before pouncing on Herb.

("What is going on out there?") Several amazons were now standing in the streets watching the odd battle in dumb shock, all but one, that one being a three hundred year old woman who was currently running in a spiral around the two fighters, faster than either of them could register.

"Hiryuu Shouten Ha!!!" Cologne threw her fist up and a massive tornado sprung up, quickly becoming a flaming twister of doom as Were-Ranma's flames were

pulled from her body and thrown into the twisting winds, she was constantly feeding power to her body trying to overpower the winds and break free but was inadvertingly making it stronger instead. After about two minutes, the wind disipitated, and a battered Onna-Ranma hit the floor, oddly enough Herb was nowhere in sight.

-----about a mile up-----

A heavily burned and very pissed Herb was floating in midair looking down at the amazon village in annoyance.

("So, my bride also has a human form, at least it wasn't in vain, but I'll never retreive her as long as she is with the amazons, another time then.") Herb began to float away, bringing himself slowly to the ground, knowing good and well he didn't want to free fall from this height so close to Jusenkyo.

---- back in the village----

Shan Pu slowly approached the smaller girl lieing in the street, not knowing where she came from.

("I don't understand, Herb and that fire beast went in, but she came out. The technique doesn't normally do that.") the purple haired amazon was bopped on the head by Cologne as the martiarch approached Onna-Ranma as well.

("Don't be foolish, young one. This girl was that fire beast, it was obviously some form of technique. Although I'm not too sure how Herb managed to vanish within the winds.")

("But great-grandmother, what did the musk want with her?") Shampoo asked, confused.

("That is what I plan on finding out. Bring her to my house, and find her some clothes, that techinque must have burned the clothes away.") Cologne began to hop away as a pair of amazons did as she had said, carrying the small redhead to the elder's house.

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Onna-Ranma came to several hours later, she was covered in the furs of various beasts and was lieing on a mat on the floor, appon further insection she was also clothed in amazonian garb. She was once again human, the one creature she had grown to despise.

("So your awake, child.") Onna-Ranma turned in surprise to a small, shiveled up...thing that was standing nearby. The redhead sat up and backed up against

the wall and tenced.

("Calm down, I will not hurt you. My name is Cologne, I am the elder of this village.") Ranma wasn't too sure what the noises it was making meant, only knew that it was trying to comunicate. It did so in a similar fasion to that of a human, but it certainly didn't look human.

"Graa...ba..fa..da..ma?" The red head began working her vocals, trying to figure out how to make the proper noises. Being in china and constantly being

hunted allowed one to pick up a language, but she never had the equipment, or desire to speak it. After several attempts Ranma cleared her throat and began speaking in heavily accented chinese.

("Where is this? What is going on? Why are Humans here?") Cologne, Noticing that Ranma couldn't speak maradin, switched to the dialect Ranma was now using.

("This is the amazon village, you were fighting an enemy of our village and using a strange technique, I stopped the fight with a technique of my own and had you brought here. And what do you mean by "Humans?") Ranma threw off the blankets and sat across from the troll, or whatever the hell it was.

("Humans are evil creatures, they hunt and kill beasts with their tools, being too cowardly to fight us with their own body. They are nothing but trouble, and never leave our kind in peace. You should know the problems humans cause") Now Cologne was confused, why was this girl speaking of humans as if they were animals? what does she mean by "our kind?"

("What do you mean, 'Our Kind'?")

("Why the beasts of course! Creatures who only kill to eat and use their own paws and body to fight, and not tools like the cowardly humans.") The amazon elder decided to drop the subject, obviously this young one wasn't right in the head.

("Why was the musk...Those humans after you?") cologne asked gently. Ranma began to think before replying.

Ranma began to think before replying ("I'm not sure, say something about 'bride' and 'transformation' what does that mean?") Cologne instantly realized why

Ranma was speaking about humans in such a way, she was really an animal. But then how did she know that technique, or how to speak chinese for that matter? Before Cologne could ask the door opened and an amazon was standing in the door.

("Elder Cologne, the tournament is about to begin.") Ranma tenced at the sight of a human, Cologne noticed this and quickly replied.

("Alright, I will be there shortly.") The girl nodded and left and Ranma relaxed, Cologne grabbed her staff and stood on it while Ranma stood.

("Well, young one, the..Humans are about to fight eachother to see who..er...should be the new leader of the pack. You are in human body now, so they shouldn't bother you, would you like to go see it?") Ranma thought it over a bit, the troll had a point, and knowing how humans behaved might help her avoid them in the future, so why not?

("Ok, I guess.") The red head stood and followed Cologne out of the hut, going over to a large gathering of humans near a suspended log...


	4. Chapter 3

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Chapter 3: Amazons

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Ranma and Cologne had wandered into the crowd around the log, and began watching the tournament, Ranma could help but tense up at the sight of so many humans

around, knowing she was weaker in her human form.

("Calm down, young one, no one will hurt you here. Just watch the fight and relax.") Cologne took a seat in the crowd and Ranma followed suit, watching as

two young amazons got on the log, each holding a tool she was all too familiar with, they called them 'spears' appearently. Memories of overconfident hunters

that would hurl them at her flesh, the looks of shock and horror that would take the place of that annoying grin when they'd burst into flames several feet before impact, and the screams of agony as she ripped them apart and ate their flesh. She had had several of them actully impact her, but the man had at least 20 armed hunters with him, she had at least 10 of those wooden shafts sticking from her body when she killed the last of them. The feeling of

those bladed tips sent a chill down Ranma's spine, then images of basil and his smaller spears came to her, but she was brought out of her stupor by a pair of screams and opened her eyes to see the battle begin.

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"Ah! Welcome back, honored customer, to the legendary training grounds of Jusenkyo." once again, we see the scene of a fat, chinese man standing before a

fat, japanese man, except this time, the boy next to him was 16 years old and had a broom strapped to his back.

"Yes, well Ranma, here it is, the place your brother died." Genma Saotome threw his pack to the ground and lept to a pole while 'Ranma' did the same.

"Come, boy! Let's see if you can succeed where your brother failed!" The fat martial artist launched himself at the teen, exchanging punches and kicks in midair until 'Ranma' pulled the broom off his back and bashed Genma in the head with it, sending the fat martial artist flying to the ground.

THUD!

"Come on, pops, we done already?" 'Ranma' taunted as Genma stood up and whiped some dirt from his gi.

_The boy's lucky this spring was empty, or there would have been hell to pay.._ Genma lept to another pole and continued to battle against his supposed son, neither getting the better of the other for a good 30 mintues until 'Ranma' landed on an old piece of bamboo that splintered under his foot, giving Genma

the perfect chance to nail him with an uppercut that lifted him several feet into the air and down towards another spring.

"Oh no! I forgot about the springs!!" Genma began racing as fast as he could towards the spring 'Ranma' was about to fall into, paling at the image of a dragon or something trying to bite his head off.

WHAP

"Gotcha!" the fat martial artist lept and collided with 'Ranma' knocking him out of the way of the spring, unfortunetly Genma continued on with his momentium and landed in another one.

"POP!!!" 'Ranma' raced over to the edge of the spring to see what his father turned into, hoping the stories his father told him of that 'thing' his brother became were just stories.

SPLOOSH!

Genma reached the surface and crawled out of the spring, looking at himself to see there wasn't a change, he was still himself.

"Oh! You very lucky, honored customer, that just drinking well, nothing drown there yet." Genma couldn't help but chuckle at that, he had barely escaped certain doom twice that day, the next thing you know he was going to find his son again! A little ways away, a certain redhead sneezed, and started watching the fight between shampoo and a huge amazon with twin maces.

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"Ah! we are lucky today! Amazons having tournament." The guide watched the two walking over to a large table with a sign reading "FIRST PRIZE!" on it and begin eating the food at a high pace.

"Sirs! What is doing!?" At that exact moment in time Shan Pu had delivered a knock out blow to the large woman she was fighting and turned to the first prize and screamed in anger.

("Damn outsiders! Why are you eating my prize?!") The table is shattered when a bon buri gets smashed into it, Genma and 'Ranma' look at the enraged amazon in confusion until the guide translates.

"We were hungry..." 'Ranma' made a pathetic excuse that only caused Shampoo to become even more enraged, she was about to bash 'Ranma' in the face with her bon buri when a flaming tiger landed infront of her and swatted the boy out of the way before growling at the fat, and very pale, martial artist behind him.

-------------------

Ranma was pretty confused, as far as she could tell some humans from another herd wondered into this one and was trying to eat the food that belonged to the winner of the battle and the new alpha male...er...female, she walked over to where most of the amazons were currently gathered and took a look at the two outsiders, and instantly snapped at the sight of Genma, memories of the fat man beating on a small child, throwing him into a pit of cats, and selling him to several people for food food filled her mind, and for some reason this enraged the red head beyond belief and the next thing she knew she was in her oni form and putting her flames in place.

"RRRRRRROOOOOOOOOAAARRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!" Oni-Ranma dashed through the crowds and landed infront of Genma, swatting the boy aside. The fat man went paler

than a sheat as Oni-Ranma growled angrily.

"R...Ranma?" Genma was sent flying back by a fireball that was hurled from Oni-Ranma's jaws as she began attacking the fat martial artist in a frenzy of bottled up rage that she wasn't sure why she had, all she knew was that his human was the enemy and needed to be killed.

----------------------

Shan Pu was quite amazed at what was happening, the girl had become the fire beast again and was currently mauling that outsider, she was too stunned to move and didn't notice the other outsider sneak up on Ranma with his broom.

THWACK!!!!!!!!

Oni-Ranma took a devestating blow to the head from 'Ranma's' push broom, so much so that she was actually lifted from Genma's body and hurled through the air

to collide with Shan Pu, knocking the girl out.

"Pops, you ok!?" 'Ranma' helped his 'father' up and looked at the burns that covered his body, then to the creature that was just now standing up and putting its flames back into place.

"Come on boy, we have to get out of here!" Genma began running away just to have a wall of flames shoot up infront of him, then circle around until it was surrounding him and both Ranmas.

"GGGRRRRRRRRRROOOOOARRRRRRR!!!!!!!!" 'Ranma' Ran up to Oni-Ranma and delivered another blow with his broom, bu then the black haired boy was sent hurling back ward by a swipe from Ranma, who once again knocked the boy aside to get to Genma, only to be jump kicked by him a second later.

:("GET OUT OF MY WAY!"): Oni-Ranma once again swatted 'Ranma' out of the way, this time knocking him through the wall of flames and stalked closer to Genma.

CRUNCH!

Just to have a rather large boulder land on her head, knocking her out and reverting her to human form. The wall of flames died down and 'Ranma' wiped his hands off after chucking the boulder, and had to hold his nose shut after seeing Onna-Ranma's naked body lieing on the floor.

"No way she was that thing..." Shan Pu got up a couple seconds later and looked over to Cologne.

("Great grandmother, what happened?") Cologne hopped over to her and pointed to 'Ranma'.

("The outsider defeated you by hurling the young one at you, I think you know what to do.") Shan Pu nodded and walked over to 'Ranma', who tensed and prepared to defend himself, and kissed him passionatly before glomping onto the boy and shouting.

"Wo Ai Ni Airen!!" The amazons gasped at this annoucement while 'Ranma' looked confused and attempted to removed the happy amazon from himself. Cologne nodded before hopping over to Genma, who was looking at Onna- Ranma's prone form in shock.

"You, outsider, how do you know this one?" Genma barely acknowleged the fact he was being spoken to and continued to stare at Onna-Ranma.

"I...Don't understand. Why is he like this?" Cologne looked a little confused at this but desided to ask her question again.

"Did you not hear me?" She asked a little louder.

"Huh?" Genma resonded, dumbly.

"I asked, how do you know this one?" Cologne gestured towards Onna-Ranma who started to come around.

("Urg.") Onna-Ranma got to her knees and looked around, noticing Genma there her eyes narrowed as she was about to attack Genma, only to be stopped by Cologne's staff.

("Calm yourself, young one.")

("But the enemy must die!") Ranma tried to attack again only to have Cologne stop her once again.

"She thinks of you as her enemy, do you know why?" Genma looked even more pale, any doubt he had of this not being Ranma were instantly washed away at that sentence, but that still didn't explain why she was a girl.

"Get offa me!!" shouted a struggleing 'Ranma'.

"Airen!!" 'Ranma' was continuely trying to pry Shan Pu from him to no avail, Cologne sighed at this and walked over to them, bopping Shan Pu on the head.

("Shan Pu! Let the boy breathe, its not like he is going to run off.") The amazon reluctantly agreed and 'Ranma' sighed in relief.

"Come, Son-In-Law, you can have 'fun' with your wife later." Cologne began walking into the village as 'Ranma' looked confused.

"Huh?! Son-in-law? Wife?! What are you talking about?" The elder turned around and bounded over to the boy and stood on the top of her cain to reach

'Ranma's' eye level.

"Did you not hurl a rather large fire beast at my great granddaughter?"

"Well, kinda..."

"Was she or was she not knocked out?"

"I think she was knocked out..."

"So then you agree you defeated her in combat, making you her husband due to the Kiss Of Marriage laws of this village?" 'Ranma' looked even more confused.

"Kiss of Marriage? defeat her in combat? But I wasn't fighting her!!" Cologne turned around and watched a rather naked Onna-Ranma enter the village, glaring at Genma.

"Well would you prefer marrying her? You DID defeat her as well with that boulder." Cologne grinned mentally, while she pointed at Ranma. if Ranma were to become an amazon the village would prosper greatly with that fire technique of hers, It probably wouldn't be very difficult to convince the girl to do so.

"What?! Of course not! I don't wanna marry anybody!" Now this brought Cologne back to reality.

"What is your name, Boy?" Cologne asked while narrowing her eyes.

"I'm Ranma Saotome of the Saotome school of Anything Goes Martial Arts!" 'Ranma' said, filled with pride. Cologne was a little surprised that this child used the same style as the enemy of all that is female, Happosai. She'd keep a good eye on him and his father, and if they tried to follow in Happy's footsteps...Then let's just say she wouldn't stop Onna-Ranma from killing and eating that fat oaf.

-----------------

Cologne was once again in her hut with Onna-Ranma, discussing her views on human kind and also asking questions of her past, only to be given odd answers.

("Tell me, child, why do you view that man as your enemy?") The elder took a small sip of water after asking the question, and Ranma sat across from her with a cold look in her eyes.

("I'm not sure. I see, horrible things, horrible things that male does to his own young. I see it behind my eyes, and feel it as if it happened to me.") Cologne was slightly puzzled by Ranma's use of words, always giving strange replies as if she didn't understand how things worked.

("You say you feel it like it happened to you, perhaps it did?") The aged amazon took another sip while the red head looked confused.

("That can't be so, I am a proud beast! Not the young of some human.") Onna- Ranma said.

("Well you speak human, think human, even look human. Why do you think you are not human?") Cologne shot back.

("Why do you think you are?") Cologne stopped mid sip and turned to the young girl, an odd look in her eye.

("Well, young one, if you are so certain you are not human, then what are you?") the aged woman asked.

("I've already told you, a beast!") Onna-Ranma replied, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

("There are many beasts in the world, you must tell me more than that.") Now it was Ranma's turn to look confused, the small girl thought that over for a bit before responding.

("What do you mean?") Cologne set down her cup and faced Ranma once again, looking at her with a questioning stare.

("Have you even seen another beast like you? Ever known the parents that birthed you? Do you even know if you really are a beast?") This caused Ranma to pause for a second. It was true, she had always been alone as far as she could remember, and never once had she encoundered another creature even remotely simular to herself. Maybe Cologne was right, maybe she wasn't a beast at all.

("I have one more thing to ask you.") Ranma turned to Cologne once again, wondering what she might want to know.

("What is your name, young one?") More memories sprung into Onna-Ranma's head, that man yelling at young, stealing food and giving the child nothing but scraps. Then there were some other things. A human female playing with her young, nutruring him and caring for him. She would call him in the visions, but Ranma could barely make out what she was saying.

("Ran.") The only thing that came out clearly in the visions, the woman used it a lot, but the man never did, although it didn't seem quite right...

("Ran?") Cologne asked, a little confused.

("It is the only name I know.") The elder nodded before grabbing her staff and began to hop away.

("Very well, Ran. Get some rest, you will need it.") with that the elder hopped out of the room, leaving 'Ran' to her thoughts.

-------------------------

Note: Oni-Ranma Ranma's Tiger/Dragon form. Were-Ranma Ranma's Tigress form. Onna-Ranma/Ran Ranma's human form. (Please note that Ranma is female in all three forms.)


	5. Chapter 4

-----------------------------

Chapter 4: Humanity

-----------------------------

Ran couldn't sleep.

She couldn't understand what was currently going on, she had managed to change from this human form to her true, beast form more than once and couldn't figure out how. Why did she keep returning to Human form? Why could she not perform the act of transformation again? Why was she feeling so comfortable in human form? And who the hell was the human she knew as her enemy?

Onna-Ranma couldn't take it anymore, and decided to go for a walk.

Cologne couldn't sleep.

The Amazon elder had this gut feeling that something was going to happen, and it was going to happen soon, she could swear that the students of Happosai would try something, especially the fat one, she could sense an evil intention from him, and had a feeling he would try something tonight. Might as well patrol the village, you can never be too sure.

Genma couldn't sleep.

He couldn't believe that after all this time, he had finally found Ranma. He still couldn't believe what he did after losing him in the first place, wandering into that forest with the huge animals and coming across a young boy, the boy had no memory, and actually had to write his name on the back of hishand to keep himself from forgetting it. After seeing this Genma had tricked him into erasing it by dropping something into the stream, the boy reached down and grabbed it causing the ink on his hand to wash away, then all he had to do was write 'Ranma' there when the boy wasn't looking and convince him he was his father. Now Genma had to somehow reverse that, and hopefully convince him the brother he lost at Jusenkyo was actually his sister. Probably wouldn't be too hard, just remove that bracer that fixed his memory problem and tell him something different. Then the only problem was getting the real Ranma back, the

girl seemed to hate him for some reason, and it also didn't seem that she spoke Japanese anymore.

Genma needed to take a walk, it helped him think.

"Ranma" couldn't sleep.

Ever since he had knocked out Shampoo with the fire beast girl, he couldn't go anywhere without that Amazon girl following him, the old one said something about her being his wife because of some strange law. And he couldn't get out of it either, it was either her or that red head, and the idea of marrying a girl who turned into a giant flaming tiger wasn't all that pleasant.

Maybe some fresh air would help him relax.

Shampoo slept like a log, she was incredibly tired, after all.

-------------

Ran looked up at the night sky and sighed, she just couldn't get a hold of it. The redhead had been trying over and over to return to her beast form, but it just wouldn't work. What was different about the two times she changed? Ran stopped when she heard a noise and turned quickly, scanning the darkness of the night with her keen sight, she heard another sound, and looked towards the hut Shampoo slept in, to see 'Ranma' walk out.

"Man, what am I gonna do about this?" He asked himself, looking around for a minute and spotting Onna-Ranma a few feet away.

"Heh, I guess she couldn't sleep either." The black haired boy looked up at the stars for a moment as Ran turned away from him, no longer paying attention to his presence.

("Strange creatures, the humans. How do they understand each other with so many different ways of speech?") Ran just shrugged and concentrated on transforming again, sweat began to pour down her face as she screamed in frustration and fired off a pillar of flames into the night sky.

"Whoa!" 'Ranma' looked at the angry girl a little amazed, he had never seen such techniques before. He looked slightly confused when she began muttering in Chinese in a way that seemed to be constant swearing. _That WASN'T what she was trying to do!?_

Ran looked around a few times and ignored the smoking crater her rage created; she then began moving around as if fighting an enemy that wasn't there. She had seen many humans do it before while living in her mountains and assumed it was calming. Those humans she liked. They were beasts at heart. They may have been humans, but they perfected their bodies, and thier minds. Before Herb came she would sometimes watch the monks in the temples near her lair.

Something about what they did seemed so familiar, but she never knew what. The kata she was unknowingly performing as she though got more complex as she began to jump around, often covering her fist or leg in flames before attacking, intensifying the make believe battle she was having with nobody. The redhead quickly stopped when she heard several shouts in Chinese, and turned her head towards the general direction they came from.

("WE ARE UNDER ATTACK!!!") Someone screamed, Ran growled under her breath and began running towards the middle of the village, not really knowing why she was heading towards the fight and not really caring as she soon arrived at the scene, several guards were lying around, either unconscious or dead, and a strange creature stood in the middle of the village, it looked like a werewolf, except its features were slightly demonic and electricity was playing over its body, as if it was being generated by the creature.

("Another human? Get out of my way, girl! Or you shall burn from my power.") The electricity intensified and surrounded the creature to the point it actually looked like he was nothing but energy, a bolt of lightning shot from his body and struck the ground where Ran was standing a split second earlier.

("You may be nimble, but you can not dodge forever. I know another of my kind is in this village, and I will slaughter every human I see until I find it.") Another bolt of lightning shot out of the creature, flying right past the Redhead as she dived away and rolled back to her feet, rushing forward at the creature and coming around with a kick to the head, only to have several thousand volts of electricity flow through her body upon contact with its body.

("Heh, foolish humans, it is quite hilarious when they do that.") The werewolf swatted Ran away from it and caused her to crash into a wooden post, the post shattered from the impact as the redhead struggled to stand.

"BAKUSAI TENKETSU!!" Several large, jagged rocks are sent flying at the creature, it nimbly dodged around them and turned a glare in the direction they came from, seeing an aged woman standing there with her finger pointing at a hole in the ground.

("Monster, how dare you attack our village during the night, are you such a coward that you can't come when we are rested and ready?") The werewolf growls a bit before firing off a lightning bolt at Cologne, the Amazon elder dodged long before the shot neared her and fired off a chi blast, impacting the creature in the chest and sending it back.

("Damn human, I will destroy you and all of your people if I must.") Four more bolts of lightning went flying from the werewolf, three towards Cologne and one into the air, the Amazon Elder dodged all three bolts only to be struck by the fourth, that came back down from the clouds. The creature began to smirk only to scream out in agony as it was hit by a spray of water from behind, it fell to its knees as the electricity died away from around him, the werewolf slowly turned his head to see a smirking 'Ranma' holding a bucket.

"Any idiot knows that water and electricity don't mix." The creature got to its feet and faced "Ranma", seeing no buckets nearby he surrounded himself in the volts again and sent a huge surge of energy at "Ranma", who didn't move in time to dodge.

"And any idiot knows that humans and lightning don't mix either." the thing sneered as Ranma began screaming in pain, strands of his hair turning white from the massive amount of electricity passing through his body. Ran began to stir at the screams of the boy, her body changing and being surrounded in flames as her anger for the creature before her raised.

("Die!!") The Werewolf barely had time to look surprised before a fireball larger than he was engulfed him and stopped his attack on Ranma, who fell to the ground smoking from the attack.

("So, you have finally shown yourself...") The werewolf's electricity died away as he looked at Were-Ranma covered in flames and looking at him rather pissed. A few fireballs are sent flying his way as the werewolf leaps over them and right into a blast of flames that engulf him, causing him to fall to the ground, smoking.

("I can't believe it, you're protecting the humans..") The creature struggles to stand as the flaming tigress prepares another blast.

("I am protecting no one, this is simply revenge!") Were-Ranma hurled her blast just as the creature puts the volts back in place, it doesn't do him much good as the flames engulf him anyway.

_These flames are too much, I will lose if I don't get out now!_ The werewolf dug his feet into the ground and cross his arms in front of his chest, building up a large amount of electricity. He suddenly discharges the buildup into the sky, causing a massive lightning bolt to come crashing down on top of him, everyone present has to shield their eyes from the flash, but once it died down, the creature was gone. Were-Ranma looked around in confusion trying to locate the beast again. The flames around her died as she collapsed to one knee, briefly acknowledging the fact her clothing had stayed intact this time before passing out from blood loss, a rather large wound on the back of her head bleeding freely in the night.

("Quick, we must get her to the village doctors.") Cologne and a few of nearby amazons grabbed Ran and carried her to the hut containing the doctor, while 'Ranma' regained consciousness and began wondering why he felt like his insides were on fire.

------------

-flash-

"Come on, boy! Play nice with the little kitties!"

"Please papa, no!!"

-flash-

"Worthless boy! Can't you do anything right?!"

"S…Sorry pappa, I'm just not as good as you are."

"You're not giving me that, you'll do it till you do it right or you won't be fed, boy!"

-flash-

"Why you little piece of shit! That's it, you've been lagging to far behind in your training! We're going straight for the extremes. We're going to china boy, and don't start complaining since your swimming there!!"

-flash-

"What the hell is that thing!?"

"RRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!"

-flash-

("AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!!") Ran awoke and fired a large fireball directly in front of her, blowing a hole in the hut wall. The redhead looked around her and once again found herself in a human cave on a pile of animal skins.

("The pictures behind my eyes, they still haunt me…") Ran turned when she saw cologne enter the room, the shrunken old woman approached the bed the redhead was sleeping in and examined the bandage on the back of her head.

("How are you feeling young one?") Cologne turned to the still slightly burning hole in the wall before turning back to Onna-Ranma.

("Well, I presume...") Ran looked to the shrunken woman balancing perfectly on her staff for a few seconds before turning around in the bed.

("What was that creature?") She asked.

("Actually I was hoping you could tell me, it seemed to be much like you.") Cologne responded, Ran shook her head and addressed the elder again.

("I've never seen a creature like that before.") Just then, an Amazon warrior opened the door.

("Honored Elder Cologne, the fat outsider has broken into our treasury, he's stolen the scrolls to some of our secret techniques!")

("WHAT!?") Cologne shouted in surprise, the Amazon quickly left the room as cologne turned to Ran.

("Well, young one, I guess you have another opportunity to rip that fat human limb from limb.") : The way she's going the counsel will practically beg her tojoin the tribe. : Cologne added to herself. Ran grinned before following Cologne out of the building, the idea of killing Genma seemed rather nice to her.


	6. Chapter 5

-----------------------------

Chapter 5: Family

-----------------------------

"MWAHAHAHHAHAAHA!!!!!! WHAT A HAUL! WHAT A HAUL!!!" Genma shouted, briefly realizing that it probably wasn't a good idea to shout out the master's catch phrase in the middle of a village of women, but didn't really care considering he was trying to catch their attention.

"Pops, what the hell are you doing?!" Ranma ran out of the hut Shampoo usually slept in to see his father standing on top of a nearby building with a big bag over his shoulder.

"Come, Ranma! We must flee before we are caught!" The Fat, Balding man leapt off the roof and was about to make a break for it when a fireball impacted the

ground in front of his feet.

"I'm afraid its too late for that, you are already caught. Ran, do with him as you wish." Onna-Ranma growled before leaping at the fat martial artist, attempting to hit him with a flaming fist, only to miss by a mile.

:So, She goes by the name of Ran, does she?: "Come on, Ran! You'll have to do better than that!" Ran growled and leapt at Genma again, throwing punches, kicks, and fireballs that were all dodged, blocked, and nimbly avoided.

"I taught you everything you know, Ran. You'll never be able to defeat me!" The redhead growled once more and burst into flames, turning once again into her Tigress form, Were-Ranma attacked The Fat Saotome with a new speed and ferocity as he took blows all over, his Gi also caught fire as he abandoned the bag and rolled around on the ground to put it out.

"Ok, so Jusenkyo taught you that. Fair enough." The flaming Tigress kicked Genma in the stomach and punted him towards a large group of Amazons as Ranma snuck up behind the fiery girl and bashed her over the head with his broomstick.

"No one attacks my pop!" Ranma swung the broom around again and smashed Ran in the side of the head with the weapon, sending her skidding to the side as Genma knocked out the group of amazons and approached Ran.

"I think she's unconscious..." Ran suddenly sprang to her feet and lashed out at Genma with a blow that would have taken his head off had he not dodged it at the last moment.

"YOW! Vacuum Blade!" The flaming girl was hit head on with a dulled chi blade and was knocked out by the blow, reverting back to human form and hitting the ground hard. Genma grabbed the downed girl and slung her over his shoulder as the amazons formed a circle around the three.

"What do you think you're doing? Do you really believe you will escape this village with your life, male?" Cologne addressed the Fat man as he and Ranma

looked at the women surrounding them.

"Yes, and I intend to take my 'daughter' with me as well!" Genma quickly grabbed a smoke bomb out of his pack and hurled it at the ground, surrounding him and the two teenagers in a blanket of smoke as he grabbed Ranma's arm and activated the Umi-sen-ken, running from the smoke and the village before the amazons got the smoke out of their eyes.

-----------

Genma had stopped far from the Amazon village and dropped both Ranma and Ran as he also put their packs down.

"I don't get it pop, why did we kidnap that girl?" Genma turned to his so- called son and grabbed the bracer on his left arm, and quickly pulled it off.

"Your name is Kazuma Saotome, I am your father. A long time ago your sister Ranma, and myself went to Jusenkyo where she fell in a spring and turned into a fire monster and ran away. We just went by a village of Amazons to find that she was living there and have just taken her back." Genma then slipped the bracer back on Kazuma and left the boy's screwed up memory to work its magic as he leaned over and looked at the unconscious girl.

"I can't believe we found sis after all this time. It's hard to believe those stories about her turning into a fire monster were true." 'Kazuma' said as Genma smirked. Reprogramming his son may be dishonorable, but it was the easiest way to undo what he already told him. Genma noticed that Ranma was starting to stir and leapt up and tensed, looking at the two Saotome boys.

("Where am I?!") Onna-Ranma stared at the two, noticed Genma and tensed further.

"Sis, calm down! We're trying to help you!" Kazuma tried to grab Ranma's shoulders just to take a nasty four-punch combo that had him skidding across the ground several feet away. The redhead vaguely understood what they had said and started to remember how to speak their language, at least since the pictures had started coming to her with more clarity.

"Why I here? What enemy want?!" In a very broken Japanese, Ranma attempted to respond as the broom-wielding boy got to his feet.

"We are not your enemies, Ranma. We are your family!" Genma tried to argue with her. The name sounded better to Ran, but didn't believe what the fat human had said.

"I not Human Cub, I beast!" She shouted, her body heat rising.

"You are not a monster, Ranma! Jusenkyo cursed you to turn into that creature! You are human!" The newly Amazon girl glared at Genma before she burst into flames.

"You lie!!" Onna-Ranma leapt at the fat martial artist, preparing to deliver a fire-powered foot to his face as Shinosuke, AKA Kazuma, tackled her to the ground, ignoring the flames licking at his clothes, and his skin.

"Ranma, its true! I've seen Jusenkyo, and the springs that cursed you. Please, stop trying to kill our father, he's spent all this time trying to find you! We both have!" Ranma's fiery aura vanished as her mind was filled with more pictures. A young child with black hair standing on a pole and fighting his father, landing in a large pool of water and being transformed into a beast, leaving the waters surrounded in a familiar fire and chasing the father into the woods. Ran now recognized these images, knowing what they meant, but she refused to believe it as she hurled Kazuma off of herself with a wall of fire.

"NO!!! I not Human!!! No matter what pictures say!!" Kazuma got back up when Ran suddenly transformed into her Oni form, staring down the fat martial artist

before running off into the woods.

"Hurry, Kazuma. We have to find her before the amazons do!" Genma shouted and ran into the forest, followed by Kazuma.

Several weeks had passed, and Ran was still trying to run from Genma and Kazuma. Every now and then the amazons would find the two and slow them down, but they still stuck close on the fiery girl's tail as she soon found herself in a small down near the ocean.

"Ran no let them catch...Enemy not family..." The redhead jumped up onto the building next to her as she saw Kazuma walking around in the streets below her, carrying his broom.

"Ran! Ranma!!! Where are you?" The Broom wielding boy continued to look around while Ran jumped over to the next building, only to run right into Genma's large belly.

"Kazuma! Get up here." Shinosuke soon joined them on the roof as he looked at Ran, who seemed ready to torch the both of them at any second.

"Come on, Ran. We just want to take you home!" Kazuma reasoned as Ran stared the two down.

"Ran have no home. Ran not human!" Ranma snarled.

"She's right, you know, she isn't human." Kazuma and Genma turned to see a man with black and white hair looking at them, wearing dragon scaled armor and a long cape.

"She is a beast, and my bride. Now stand aside if you value your lives." Three others joined them on the roof, a boy that looked like he had wolf ears, a man that was striped like a tiger, and a woman that looked relatively normal, aside from the glowing arrow she was pointing at Genma's heart. Ran quickly hid behind Kazuma, not wanting to be shot by one of Basil's arrows. Those things would really hurt when she was in human form.

"Who the hell do you think you are?!" Kazuma shouted as he stood in front of Ranma-Chan protectively.

"I am Prince Herb of the musk dynasty, and if you don't hand over my bride, you shall both die horrible deaths." Genma was going to make a break for it when he heard 'prince' and 'bride' in the same sentence, at which point Yen notes appeared in his eyes.

"You're a prince are ya? And you want to marry my daughter. Well I give you my blessing!" Genma was promptly bashed over the head with a broom.

"Pops! What the hell are you doin'?!" Kazuma shouted.

"Quiet boy! This guy is a prince! He's probably loaded with cash!" Herb smiled before getting closer to Genma.

"Indeed I am." The prince then grabbed Genma by the collar of his Gi and held him off the ground. "But the day you get your hands on a single yen will be a cold day in hell, indeed." Genma laughed nervously before reaching into his Gi.

"In that case, CATCH!" A small explosive was hurled directly into Herbs eyes as it exploded into a cloud of pepper. The musk prince screamed in agony and dropped Genma, just as Basil released her arrow, barely missing Genma as it pierced through his fluttering Gi and broke straight through the solid cement roof of the building as the three Saotomes made a break for it.

"Mint, Lime! Don't let them escape! Basil, I want the fat one alive, so I can torture him personally!!" Herb's three lackeys began chase after the Saotomes, Mint's speed far surpassed any of them as he was quickly gaining while Lime was simply breaking through any obstacles without even slowing down.

"Damn, they're inhuman!" Genma shouted in annoyance as they were approaching the coast of the ocean.

"Water! Animal men no like water!" She exclaimed and dived in, followed by Genma and Kazuma as they all swam as fast as they could. Mint and Lime stopped in their tracks as they got to the edge of the water, not wanting to activate their curses while basil followed, already in curse form.

"Don't think I'll let you get away!" She began firing Arrows from shallow water out to the Saotomes, but couldn't get a good shot with the waves when they three swam out of sight.

"Damn it!" She said, climbing out of the water and looking at Mint and lime.

"Go fetch lord Herb, I'll go looking for a boat...What are you two staring at?" She noticed the wide eyes as the eagle woman looked down at her torso, seeing that her white shirt was now totally clear, leaving her Female 'parts' visible to any who wanted to see.

Whap! Pow!

"Get your eyes off my chest and go get lord herb! Perverts."

------------

Many days and many nights of almost constant swimming passed as the three Saotomes reached shore on a Japanese beach before collapsing from exhaustion. They lay there for nearly 2 hours, regaining enough strength to stand.

"Where are we?" The drenched redhead asked, not recognizing anything she saw.

"We're home. I don't believe it! We actually swam all the way back! WOO HOO!! We did it!!" Kazuma started cheering while Genma and Ran stood up.

"Hey pop, can we go back home to mom now?" Genma lost the emotion on his face as Ran looked at him and Kazuma in confusion.

"Mom? What is mom?" She asked as the broom-wielding boy looked at him.

"Our mother! I haven't seen her in ten years!" Ran's head suddenly filled with images of a young woman playing with her young.

"If Ran really Human cub, Ran want see mother!" Genma began to sweat, last time he checked, Nodoka was only aware of having one child, that child was supposed to be a boy named Ranma. How was he gonna make her believe she had two children, and that Ranma was really a girl:I'm in deep shit...I hope Nodoka is still as gullible as she used to be.:

"I wish we could, but we've been gone so long, I can't seem to remember were she lives! Heh heh, I guess I'm getting forgetful in my old age."

"Pop, you're 38 years old." Kazuma said, suspiciously.

"I know that son, but forgetfulness runs in our family! If you weren't wearing that bracer, you wouldn't even be able to remember your own name!" :Good save there, Genma!: The fat man said as Kazuma considered that.

"I guess you've got a point."

"Well, Maybe my old friend Soun Tendo knows where she lives! Why don't we just stop by his dojo and ask him!" Genma said as he headed off towards the Tendo dojo.

"Pop, why is it that you can remember where your best friend lives, but not your wife?"

"Because boy. That man faced the greatest terror in this world with me at that place he now calls.. home." Genma and Kazuma began walking, soon being followed by Ran as they headed to the Tendo dojo.

----------

[Soun, I'm returning from China with my children, we should show up soon, Genma. a teary-eyed man read over the post card several times, making sure it was real.

"At last! Genma is coming, the schools can finally be joined! Oh how I've waited for this day!" Soun stood and ran throughout the house.

"Kentarou!"(1) Soun moved the curtain into the kitchen, to see a 19-year- old boy cooking dinner.

"Yeah, what is it, dad?" said the gentle looking young man.

----

"Genzinan!"(2) Soun opened the door to his middle child's room, seeing him at his desk, reading a manga.

"Huh?"

----

Soun opened the door to his daughter's room, only to find it empty. "Akane! Where is that girl?"

--------

A young girl can be seen jogging down the street as she makes a hard turn into the Tendo dojo, quickly puts on a Gi, and begins to shatter cinder blocks.

"YA!!"

Crash!!

The stone was easy broken as a chunk flew across the room and landed under the foot of a 17-year-old boy with a camera, snapping pictures of his younger sister.

"There you go again, I don't know what those guys at school see in a tomboy like you, but they're buying the pictures, so I don't complain." Akane growled and punted a large chunk of cinderblock at her elder brother.

"Shut up, Genzi!" Genzinan barely managed to dodge the block before regaining his composure.

"Hey, that was quite an impressive kick, you nearly took my head off. Oh yeah, dad's called a family meeting, he wants to tell us all something." Genzinan walked back inside, soon followed by Akane.

"Fiancé?!" Akane shouted as she stared at her father.

"Yes, The child of a good friend of mine. They should be here any minute." Soun said with a grin as Akane growled.

"Don't we get any say in who we marry!?"

"Don't jump the gun, Kane. You never know, it could be a girl, then we'd be stuck with her." Genzinan said as Kentarou thought about it.

"I wonder if she's good looking? Will she be older than me? I'd hate that." He wondered aloud.

"So pop, what's this mystery kid like?" Genzi asked.

"Is it a guy or a girl?" Ken added.

"Ha ha! I have no idea, I've never met him...or her." Genzi's eyebrow was twitching.

"So for all you know, you could have engaged us to a sumo wrestler?" Genzi said sarcastically when they heard yelling and arguing at the door.

"Must be them." Kentarou said as he stood and looked down the hall as a boy with a push broom strapped to his back came running in.

"Do you have any buckets of water?!" Ken looked a little confused as he handed over the pale and watched the broomed boy run back the other way, a splash and a roar of anger that seemed feminine could be heard as the same boy and a much fatter man ran down the hall.

"AHH!!! SHE'S GONNA KILL US!!!" Kazuma shouted as a drenched Ran came running after them.

"Fat man die!" She shouted. The two men ran back around and into the room and hid next to the door when the girl rounded the corner and was smacked in the back of the head with Kazuma's broom.

"Genma, my old friend! It's good to see you!" Soun said as he hugged the fat man.

"It's good to see you too, Soun. These are my children, Kazuma and Ranma." Ran got back up and rubbed the back of her head in pain.

"Why Kazu hit so hard?" She asked in annoyance. Soun then sat everyone down and began to talk.

"I think we should get back to the matter of the engagement..." Ken spoke up before Soun could finish.

"As the oldest, I feel it is my duty to be the one that follows the agreement between families, and has to marry Ranma." Genzi then spoke up.

"As the oldest, it is your duty to move out and find your own damn girl. I think I should be the one to marry her." Ken pushed Genzi out of the way.

"Screw you, she's mine!"

"Hell no, I saw her first!"

'Liar!" before the argument could continue any further, both of the Tendo men found themselves the targets of Ran's Fireball as they were hurled from the house and landed in the Koi pond.

"Now that, they had coming..."

----------


	7. Chapter 6

A/N : Yes, this is a long chapter. It has to do with five people all of which could end up married to one another meeting and making their good, and bad

first impressions, so it deserves the time and space.

Chapter 6 - Fiance/e!?

Soun stared in shock as his sons were hurled into the koi pond by the blast from the little red head they had been fighting over. He sat up straight, and

then said "Now that, they had coming..." to which his old friend Genma just nodded sagely.

Kazuma looked to his sister and said admonishingly "now sis, you really shouldn't't blow people up like that."

Looking at her brother, she was about to apologize until the connection in her head between the word marry, and "Fat man brought me here". The fully formed thought she got was "Fat man brought me here, to marry stupid humans!?" Before she was able to once again attempt to kill her father, the two brothers pulled themselves out of the koi pond.

"What the hell was that you crazy-" Genzinan yelled out, until he was hit in the back of the head by Kentarou.

Kentarou sighed, as he took his shirt off and wrung it out, before putting it back on. That girl was amazing. To think, at her age she had mastered chi attacks. After he had finished getting most of the water out of his shirt,he spoke " Now brother, we were being quite rude. We didn't't even ask what Ranma wanted." after he said this, he paused, then dragged his brother to stand infront of a now confused Ranma. Bowing formally, and being followed soon after by his brother, he spoke again "Even though there is no excuse for the thoughtlessness my brother and I have shown. My brother and I would like to apologize and ask for your forgiveness on this matter." After finishing, the two stayed bowed, waiting for Ranma's response.

Ranma stared at them, confused at the way they were acting. Nobody had ever apologized to her before. She didn't't know how to handle this. The awkward moment went on for a few minutes before Akane leaned over to Ranma and whispered "Psst! They're waiting for you to accept their apology"

"Why? They treat Ranma like thing. Ranma not thing, Ranma is Ranma!" she whispered back harshly.

"Just accept it. Boys are stupid,immature and rude to girls. At least my brothers are willing to apologize for doing those types of things. Your brother doesn't't even apologize for hitting you with a broom!" She whispered back.

"That NOT True! Brother not treat like thing! Brother treat like person. Just hits Ranma when try to kill fat man!" Ranma stated, matter of factly, no longer whispering, causing Akane, Kazuma, and Soun to face fault, and causing Kentarou and Genzinan to struggle valiantly not to do the same. Genma justed sighed.

After looking at the two Tendo boys, Ranma smiled and said "You no do again, and I forgive you." The two stood up promptly, and were gushing promises that they'd never do it again. Both were then lost in bliss, as they heard a light giggle escape from Ranma, who thought :Humans could be funny! Especially when they wanted to mate!: She had promised Kazuma that she wouldn't't kill any humans, unless it was a last resort, but she never promised not to maim or attempt to maim as the fat one had found each time he did something stupid! She was just happy that stupidity was probably the thing he was most adept at so she had plenty of reasons to go after him. The only thing standing between her actually hurting the fat man, was Kazuma. He listened to her,

and didn't't treat her like she was an idiot because she couldn't speak Japanese very well. He had even turned the broom on the fat man a few times when he said cruel things to her. She knew the man was her father, but she would not think of him in such a way. He had much to atone for before she'd every think of HIM as family.

Soun looked at Ranma, who had slipped into thought, then turned to Saotome, and said "Well, that was interesting my old friend. But my sons do have a point. Two of our children must become engaged, to bring the two schools together. I believe Akane and Kazuma would be a great match!" As he said this, Akane,

Kentarou, and Genzinan all objected, and Genma just looked worried. In short, it was pandamonium. too bad no pandas around Looks at Genma Damn

"But father, you know the problems Akane has with men, to force her into a relationship like this would be far too cruel! I couldn't forgive such a thing!"

Kentarou said.

"And seriously, she'd probably pummel him until he got sick of it, and just left. Then where would the contract be to join our schools? You know she has a temper. She even kicked a piece of cinder block at me today!" Genzinan added his two yen.

"But daddy! Why should I have to marry an immature boy like him! You saw what he did to his sister a little while ago!?"Akane said, forgetting about WHY,Kazuma had hit Ranma with his broom.

"But she was going to kill us, Its not my fault! Its not like I would hurt her or anything, she's my sister!" Kazuma said in his defense.

Ranma jumped in "Yeah! Kazuma is good brother! Brother protects me, kept fat man from giving me away as bride to stupid half beast man!"

And again, all eyes were on Ranma, most of them on the verge of shutting down from the complete unlikelihood of what was just said.

At that point, Genma had a thought "Tendo, I have a proposal. As it stands, your boys seem to have taken a liking to my Ranma, and I can see that Akane being in a forced relationship would probably destroy it before it started, how about we gave it some time, and see if any of our children decide they like each other before we push them into it. We do only need one pair to be married, and this would be best for the happiness of our children. And in the end if we do not have anything happen between our children, we can still join the schools by teaching them both to the next generation!" What Genma really didn't't want to say, was that he was reluctant to let his hopes hang on Kazuma, because he wasn't his true son, and if it ever got out, then he would be out

of luck. He also figured that showing at least some form of decency might make Ranma less determined to kill him. Maybe only maim him or something.

Ranma looked at him stupefied. Did Fat man just say she didn't't have to marry the boys if she didn't't want to? He mentioned her, happiness."Who you, and what you do with fat man?" Ranma asked curiously.

"Ranma, I'll admit it. I'm not the best father. And I'm not the smartest" Genma said, continuing on even as Ranma and Kazuma both gave an affirmative to each thing he said "But I love you both, and I want you both to be happy. While what I do may sometimes make little sense, someday you'll understand" he finished looking solemn. That should hopefully get him into Ranma's good graces, at least for a little bit.

"Saotome... You are wise beyond your years. After all this time, you have become an even better man than I. Yes, I agree. Let us have our children get to know each other. I remember the love I had with my wife, long ago... I wish that type of love for my children." Soun had tears streaming down his face as he said this."

All three of the Tendo children looked at their father with empathy. All except Akane had been old enough to see how hard he had taken her passing.

After a short pause, Ranma's stomach growled, to which Kentarou stood up "Before you three arrived, I had been working on dinner. Ranma, would you like to assist me? I could use a hand, and would probably get done sooner if you helped" he said, looking at Ranma with a sort of calm air about him.

Ranma looked at him for a moment, then shrugged. She was hungry, and faster was better. "OK, I help. I get food faster if help right?" Kentarou nodded, and with that they headed towards the kitchen.

Genzinan looked as his brother smoothly get a chance to spend time with that new girl. She was crazy, but with a body like that, and the cute way she spoke, he was at the very least, in lust with her. The fact that she seemed to understand things around her well, and reacted to them in a fast way, had shown that she was even intelligent under that facade. The only bad thing that he saw, was that she seemed to have a chi blast like he'd seen in the mangas he'd been reading of late, and it hurt. Growling at his brother's victory, he walked up to his room, and started thinking of ways to win Ranma's heart. _You haven't won brother. She's too much a firecracker for someone like you to handle. i'll win her!_

In the kitchen Ranma was in heaven. She watched Kentarou cutting vegetables, meats, and adding seasonings to some sort of liquid in a pot. The smells were doing things to her. She felt so much more hungry, but she could almost taste the food just by smell. It was amazing! She started to salivate. "OK, what I help with?" Ranma asked, looking at Kentarou.

"Hand me the carrots please" he responded as he was dicing a round yellow white thing into cubes, and pushing them to the side of his cutting board.

"What is, carrot?" Ranma asked curiously, testing the second word out.

"Oh, that. Do you see the orange root vegetable here?" he said, walking over and picking it up. "This is a carrot. You've never had one?"

Ranma shook her head in the negative, then wondered what he was doing when he smiled, turned away,brought the vegetable to the sink, washed it off, and walked to the cutting board. She heard some dull thunks, then he turned around, and brought four little round chips to her. She looked down at her hands as he placed them in there. "What I do with this?" she asked.

"Eat them. I don't know if you'll like them raw, but who knows. They're kinda sweet, and very crunchy" he said as he started cutting up the rest of the carrot.

Ranma looked at her hand doubtfully. Then she shrugged, and put one of the chips to her mouth, and bit into it. It was not like meat. It had a sweet, but slightly sour taste to it, that was pleasant, and a crunchy wetness that was very appealing. After she finished the first one, the other three

disappeared quickly. She noticed him looking away from the carrots he had cut, and that he was stirring that appealing water. With inhuman speed, she rushed over to the cutting board, and grabbed the rest of the tasty chips, devouring them as fast as she could, until she heard a soft laughter. He was looking at her. "Well, looks like I need to cut another for our dinner, don't I, Ranma?" he asked.

Ranma's head dropped as she said "Sorry..." and offered about half of the carrot chips she had left.

"Its okay. You really must be hungry to have eaten like that. Its no trouble at all really. Besides, this time, you can cut them" he said, without a trace of annoyance or anger. With this, she proceeded to eat the rest of the chips in her hand.

"Cut them?" She asked, and no sooner than she had, she noticed that the large knife he had been using to cut the carrots and the round yellow things was being pointed at her. But it wasn't being held blade first, it was being held by the handle. She grasped it tenderly. She'd never held a human weapon before.

"Yes, come over here, I'll show you how." he motioned for her to come over to the cutting board, then put his hands over hers, making her left hand form a claw on one part of the carrot, and then bringing the knife down with the other, against her nails, then pulling her hands about a quarter of an inch down the carrot and cutting again. Letting go of her hands, she did the same thing herself, going about a quarter inch then cutting. Soon the carrot was sliced, and Ranma was smiling.

"Ranma did good?" Ranma looked at him, hopefully.

"You did very good Ranma, and its 'I did good, right?' alright?" Kentarou said, correcting her grammar. Even if she was Japanese born, she talked as if Japanese was a second language.

Ranma looked at him, and nodded with a smile on her face. She liked this. Now she could make herself carrot chips whenever she wanted."What now?" she asked.

"Well, next we test the miso to see if its done? Would you like to try it?" he said, walking over to the stove, and lifting the spoon to his lips, he sipped and nodded, then put the spoon to Ranma's lips. she opened them up, and as the liquid slipped into her mouth, she shook a little. It was good! She thought that raw meat was good, and the food that campers had tasted good, except for the outer parts, but this was something she'd never had before.

"Is good!" she made a move towards the miso, but stopped at the hand on her shoulder.

"No, I can't replace miso that is almost done as quickly as I can the carrots." Kentarou said chuckling. After he saw the look of disappointment on her face he said "Don't worry, it tastes even better when its done, I promise!" and with that Ranma perked up. Until the supper was done, she helped him with the rice, had tested the miso with him a few times, and had gone through a few extra carrots. There was no meat in the meal, but Ranma found she didn't't really care, it was too good to complain!

As they finished dinner, and were bringing it out to the table, Kentarou asked Akane to fetch Genzinan from his room. As they all began to eat, they all made comments about how good the food was, to which Kentarou responded "Oh, but it wasn't just me. Ranma was a big help. I couldn't have gotten it done as well as I did without her" Ranma beamed with the praise.

"What!? You let her help! Why do you let a perfect stranger help, but not your own sister? You're just trying to get in good with her, aren't you!" Akane

yelled.

"Akane, you know very well why I don't allow you to cook with me. You refuse to taste what you cook. Ranma probably knows less about cooking than you do,

but she listens to what I say. She also tests anything she is cooking. Cooking is like martial arts. Some people it comes natural too. It doesn't't come natural to you, but you like to think it does." Kentarou said matter of factly, leaving Akane glaring between him and Ranma, neither of which cared.

Ranma was beaming because of the compliment he had given her, and the thought that she could help cook again. She got so much extra food while she was making it, and she liked learning it, it was fun. Kentarou didn't't really care, because he had this battle with her before. She had once tried her own food, but after that refused to do it again, hoping it would get better, but not wanting to risk it herself.

After the conversation, she noticed that her fath...fat man was trying to take food from her brother. With an annoyed growl, she said "Fat man stop stealing brothers food, or else!" Both Kazuma and Genma looked at her for a moment, then disengaged their chop-sticks, and started eating from their own plates. She nodded.

The rest of dinner was a quiet affair, Akane and Genzinan were both sulking, for different reasons. Kentarou was happy for the time he'd spent with Ranma. Ranma was happy because of the food she had eaten, and helped make. She had never made anything before. She liked it. Genma and Kazuma were both bored, being used to sparing even during dinner, but neither wanting to spoil the good mood that Ranma was in, and the lack of flames and attempted patricide that

brought about. Soun was happy as could be. His best friend was here, a man who had at one time served under the horrible master, and he had grown with two

good children, although they were a little odd... He was a father he would do his best to emulate, at least in motives. He had no doubt that at least one

pairing would happen, and the schools would be joined.

As they all finished, Soun announced "Myself and Genma talked for a little while, and I have offered to let you three stay here for as long as you like, since you are almost family, and someday you all may become family. We have a room that Genma and Kazuma may take, but we will have to have Ranma share Akane's room. Welcome to your home, I know you haven't had one for a very long time."

Ranma heard the words, and smiled, then as she ran the word home through her mind she thought, Mother. "Fat man, this is home? Home is where Mother is, yes?"

Genma's face went blank, and Soun's also drooped a little bit, having heard an edited by Genma version of events, he instead interrupted "Ranma, I do not remember where your mother lives, but I will use my position on the city council to find her whereabouts. You shall be meeting her soon. I promise" Genma sighed, thanking kami for the save. With that settled, they all retired for the night, Genma and Kazuma getting their new room set up, and Ranma setting up a mat inside Akane's room.

Akane was looking at Ranma, and said "Why didn't't you bring anything with you? Your brother was carrying a pack, did you have him carrying your clothing?"

"No, Ranma have no clothing, just clothing from amazons. No need more, right?" Ranma said as if it wasn't important.

"Of course you do. You can't just walk around naked while you're waiting for your clothes to be cleaned" Akane argued back.

"I can't?" Ranma asked, unsure why. She didn't't see anything wrong with her body. It seemed like all the males thought she was beautiful with her clothes on, so why she worry so much?

Akane stared at her. "Of course you can't! Men are perverts. They'd do things to you if you walked around naked! And don't you like changing what you wear? How you look?" At the dumb look Ranma gave her, "We don't have school tomorrow, so I'm going to get some money out of Genzinan to get you some clothing and things like that. Don't worry"

Ranma looked at her. The human was being nice to her. All of them were, even fat man. So this was being human? Maybe it wasn't that bad. Ranma smiled shyly and then nodded. After the conversation they went to bed.

That night, they all slept well.


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

The day after yesterday

A/N - Darker chapter. making me think of switching to mature for this chapter not gonna stay like this though so unsure , but it sets up for a MAJOR Kuno beating. And I really, really don't like the guy, so i'm okay with that.

It was warm, bright, and soft. Ranma didn't know what it was, but she didn't want to leave it either. She couldn't ever remember feeling like this before. She was wrapped in what felt like a cloud. As these thoughts went through her head. She remembered where she was. She was in Akane's room, sleeping. This was very nice. She wanted to stay like this, wrapped up forever. As she thought this, a voice in her head scolded her. "You are a beast! You are strong! You don't need these humans, they'll just turn you weak, like them. You'll become a weak little human!" after she heard this voice, the memories started to come back at her, like a torrent. Most of them she could only get a general impression of, but one in particular stayed. a small boy, fighting with her, and her always winning, and being given food by the boy's father. Ukyo! Her best friend, Ukyo! Soon thoughts of Ukyo led to more memories solidifying in her mind, but soon her half sleep induced thoughts were shattered by Akane standing over her.

There was a boy standing infront of her, his back to her. He must have been about eight or nine years old, and had a broom on his back. As he was turning around, everything turned white, and Akane's eyes fluttered open. It was morning. She just lay there, trying to hold onto the image from the dream, but was pulled to wakefulness by the murmurings of Ranma. Her eyes were closed, and she was muttering. All Akane could make out, was "beast", and a moment later "Weak, human". Akane got up, thinking she should wake Ranma form the bad dream she was having, but as she stood up and was about to walk over to the murmuring redhead, she opened her eyes and sat up slowly.

"Ranma, are you okay?" Akane asked, shaking her shoulder gently. "You were murmuring about a beast, and being a weak little human..."

Looking up at Akane, Ranma froze. What should she do. Humans hated beasts. If Akane found out she was a beast, then... Then she would try to kill her. And then she would have to defend herself, and Akane would die. She didn't want that. After a moment, Ranma shook her head and said "Am ok. Just...dream?"

"Are you sure? You sounded kinda, distressed." Akane was concerned with Ranma nodded with a little hesitation. She didn't seem like any normal girl she'd ever met. She was a strong martial artist. She could do things that were amazing, she had seen it with her own eyes when she'd blasted her brothers. She could even cook! She was beautiful, even Akane had to admit that. She was mind-numbingly beautiful. And even though she only spoke broken Japanese, it just screamed cute too. She cut this line of thinking off. Ranma was a new friend she could make. She didn't want to be jealous of her.

"Akane?" Ranma wasn't sure what the girl was staring at her for.

"Oh, Right..." Akane looked at her clock. "We're up a little early. I'm sure Ken is still downstairs cooking. Is there anything..." Akane trailed off as she realized she was talking to air. She'd probably rushed off to be with her brother. Akane shrugged, then she walked over to her other brother's room, and knocked on the door. A muffled sound came from inside. She knocked again.

"This had better be good" was the reply from behind the door as it opened to reveal an unkempt Gen. "What do you want sis?" he sounded annoyed.

"Its about Ranma" Akane said.

"What about Ranma?" Gen suddenly looked awake.

"She doesn't have anything" Akane stated.

"What do you mean. Have anything?"

"Nothing, No clothes, nothing. She doesn't have a pack like her brother or father. I was hoping you could help me with that. I'll make sure she knows that its because of you we were able to help her" Akane said, hoping that she wouldn't have to resort to violence, knowing that a good amount of money he had was made by selling pictures of her. Since he covered most of the house bills that way, she let it slide unless it was too racy.

"Ranma , hmm... I suppose I could help" Gen said, then walked over to his dresser, and pulled out 50,000 yen from a box he had locked in his top drawer. He held it infront of him, and then lined them up in between his fingers. They were mostly larger bills, so he doubted Akane would even realize how much he was giving her at first. Walking over to Akane, he held out the few bills, to which Akane looked annoyed when she took them. Only five bills.

"What?... How?" Akane looked at the 10,000 yen notes in her hand. She had never had this much money before. She knew her brother supported the family to an extent, but that he had this much money to throw about. "How can you have so much money to throw about!?" Akane demanded.

"Well, that is my personal spending money. I've been saving it for, quite a while to be sure. But if Ranma needs it, I can always start over." Gen said, with a smirk on his face.

"Gen, you love money. How can you just give this much away?" Akane asked, unable to comprehend his reasoning.

"You're wrong Akane. I don't love the money. I love the game. The game makes me feel alive. While you and Ken find yourselves alive when you are fighting with your limbs, I find myself truly alive when i am fighting with my mind, against hundreds of opponents. Keeping track of everything needed. I know you hate the horde that welcomes you to school in the morning, but... I also can see how much you enjoy testing and improving your skills on them. Its the same for me" Gen said, turning around so she couldn't see the smirk on his face. He did love money, it was true. But he loved the game more, so he figured it wasn't really a lie.

"Gen..." Akane breathed. She'd never thought of it like that. Her brother wasn't as bad of a person as she thought. She had loved him, but she was disappointed in the person he was, before now. That he selflessly gave this money to Ranma, when he'd spent so much time and effort on making it, lended truth to his words. "I'm sorry Gen. I've, said things I shouldn't have. I'm really sorry."

Gen smirked. He knew that he had Akane in the palm of his hand. If he could get Akane to stop being so hostile to Ranma's adored brother, that would just be another point. "It's okay Akane. But since we're being candid, you really should give Kazuma a chance. He seems like a nice guy. From what I've noticed, Furinkan high is rather... stacked in its characters. Just be happy you never met the principle before he left on another indefinite stay in Hawaii. Something about that place just breeds, insanity. You never know, Kazuma and Ranma might be a blessing, if you give him a chance." He turned around, and flashed her a smile he rarely used. He was the Iceman, nothing broke his surface, he was unreadable, and many viewed him as unstoppable. That he dared show anything that looked so heartfelt, even to his family, was enough to floor Akane.

"Yes, brother. I'll think about it." Akane said. "Thanks again, I'll let Ranma know you gave me the money."

"You don't have to if you don't want to. The money is no strings attached. Just make sure you two have fun today. Can't have my little sister going out and doing nothing but work on her day off!" Gen turned around, admonishing her, wearing his cold facade, with nothing more than a twinkle in his eyes to betray anything other than business as usual.

"Okay!" Akane said, running out of the room.

Gen stared after his sister. He had no doubt Akane would talk to Ranma about the whole incident. Unless he missed his mark, and he rarely did, Ranma would not only hear about the money, but also the kind words towards Kazuma as well. Ranma seemed to adore him almost as much as she hated her father, although for what reasons she hated the fat man, he didn't know. But that he encouraged his sister not to treat him like she had, would go well with the cute redhead. Chuckling to himself, he went over to his desk, and counted his losses. He had given Akane almost half of the money he made from her pictures to Kuno and the other idiots at the school the previous week. He still had all the money he made from the betting pools and loan sharking he did though, so he was still well in the black. Locking the box up, and closing his desk, he went downstairs, for his morning coffee and breakfast.

Ranma was having fun again. As soon as Akane had mentioned cooking, she had ran as fast as she could, down the stairs, and into the kitchen. Ken had looked at her in surprise, asking what she was doing. After a feeble protest that she was a guest, and that she should be able to relax in the morning, another cooking session was underway, with Ranma listening attentively, when not attempting to swipe a little extra food for herself during the process. Every so often, he would correct her grammar. When she asked why, he said "Because. I can tell, you're smart. But not everyone can see past the fact that you can't speak your native language very well"

Ken had to keep himself from laughing at her antics. She was a natural at cooking. She could smell when things were right. He knew this because she had correctly estimated the best time to test things. And test them again. He wondered where all the food went as he looked at her, then started to blush at the curves he had noticed, and the curious points on her shirt. He turned away quickly, turning his mind back to the food as best as he could.

"What wrong Ken?" Ranma asked cutely, smelling clearly what was wrong. Something inside her told her that feigning ignorance, could be... Amusing.

"N-n-nothing!" Ken stuttered out. She was too cute. As he turned to look at her, she had her big blue eyes aimed right at him. "Just hungry! Yeah, Hungry! But the food is nearly done, so how about I go set the tables!" after saying this, Ken grabbed all of the chopsticks, and plates he would need, and then started to hurl them onto the table, astonishingly enough, making them land in perfect order. After he was done, he took a deep breath, and then sighed. Now he knew how Yumiko Tofu must feel around him. He turned around sheepishly, as Ranma giggled at his antics. Shrugging he said "And that, is the Tendo, anything goes, attack of a thousand dishes technique. Rare and powerful. Or at least it saves time during house work." he chuckled.

Ranma looked at Ken, smirking. She could smell his state, but would leave him alone. She was hungry after all. As everyone filed down stairs, towards the good food, she assisted Ken in bringing the food out, smiling happily, while Ken followed her out with a slight blush on his face that Gen didn't miss. Gen kept his emotions from his face though. Smiling pleasantly, he thanked Ranma and Ken for the wonderful meal, then dug in, as did everyone else.

As soon as the meal was done, Soun and Genma started a game of Go, Gen went upstairs, and Ken started clearing the table. As Ranma moved to help Ken, Akane grabbed her arm. "Let him take care of it. We're gonna go have a girls day out!" she said excitedly.

"What?" Ranma looked at her. "Not fair for Ken to do all work. We go after work done."

"Go Ranma. Its useless arguing with my sister. And besides you've been more than enough help to me just by helping in the kitchen. You wouldn't believe how much easier it is with a second set of hands!"

"Hey, I can help in there too!" Akane said angrily.

"Yes, you can. When you start tasting your food young lady. Until that day, you are banned from the kitchen for anything more than grabbing a snack or a drink." Ken said seriously. Akane glared at him for a moment, then pulled Ranma out the door.

"Let go! I can walk by myself!" Ranma said irritably.

Akane nodded, and let her go. "Sorry. Ken just makes me angry sometimes. He's better at everything than me. He cooks better, he is a better martial artist, and he has such good people skills." After a moment something registered in her mind. "Ranma, why did you just refer to yourself as male when you said I?"

"What?" Ranma looked at her curiously. Male, she was not male. But something deep inside her rumbled as she thought that.

"You said I, as in male, not I, as in female" Akane demonstrated the use of each word.

"Oh. I sorry. I didn't know" Ranma said, correcting herself.

"Its okay. Somehow, it seems like your speech is getting better though. You must be a fast learner" Akane mentioned.

"I am the best. Nobody can beat me" Ranma said. She didn't know why, but she knew that was how she felt.

Akane chuckled at her, then responded teasingly "Wrong. Ken can defeat you. All he needs to do in a fight, is mention cooking, or food and you'll be putty in his hands!"

Ranma shot back a snide comment in her cutest voice, "Maybe Ranma no want to defeat him." to which Akane nearly dropped on her face. After a period of silence, Akane chatted about things Ranma couldn't understand. Interactions with her friends, and her need to be like a woman that was interested in her older brother. Ranma ignored her, until she heard the words battle. Playing back the words that had been more or less passing through one ear and out another, she understood what Akane was saying. Every morning, males led by an alpha would attack and attempt to harm her so that she could be subjugated by them. Ranma stood stock still, and her hands balled into fists, as memories of one of the few times she had protected a human surfaced.

Back, before the half beastmen, he had been wandering his forest when he heard a scream. There, he saw a girl who had four men around her, all as naked as day. He was tempted to leave the humans mating to themselves, until he saw them beating her, and doing things that made him angry. When she screamed out in pain again, Ranma roared out in anger, and stalked forward, no longer subduing his flames. His head bowed, he growled and hissed. After the men had separated from the female, running for their life, Ranma had launched one of the largest fireballs he had. Nothing but ashes remained. Ranma stood there for a moment, looking at the woman. She was sitting there, eyes blank, and shivering. Like an injured animal that was injured, was in pain, and no longer cared the end was coming. He was about to end the woman's life out of pity. Beasts did not enjoy suffering of others, but something inside of him objected. Looking at her, he padded up to her, gently touching her head with his paw. Nothing happened. Ranma paced for a few minutes wondering what to do. Clothing. Humans liked to cover their bodies. Clothing would help her. He walked over to where the men had thrown her clothing, and then brought it to her, dropping it in her lap, and making a rumbling sound. The woman blinked for a moment, then stared at him in horror. Ranma stared back, then cocked his head to the side, and let out an oddly deep mew. The woman could not stand to run away, no matter how much she tried. Then suddenly, as she tried to move her hands out of her lap, she realized, they were covered. Her clothes, they were here. Looking again at the beast, she spoke in Chinese, "Did you save me?" Ranma looked at her intently, then nodded his head.

"Why did you save me. Are you some kind of god?" She asked, to which Ranma shook his head.  
"Then why?" Ranma looked at her. then at the ashes that remained of her tormentors and growled. Then he turned back to her. "It doesn't matter..." her head dropped and tears poured out. "My life is done. I am garbage now. I've lost the only thing that was mine. My life is no longer worth living"

Ranma looked at the woman, who was berating herself. She had been defeated, and humiliated. But it was over. She should be happy. Growling, Ranma stalked infront of her. She was safe. The bad men were gone, why was she crying.

At his growling, she looked up at him. "Kill me. Please. I've got nothing left. I've got no life!" She sobbed. The growling grew louder, and she was sure it would grant her wish. She was afraid, but she knew it would be for the best. Suddenly, she felt the pressure of his face on her shoulder, and she looked up. He had walked over to her, and had pressed his face into her shoulder, and was purring and rubbing his head in the crook of her neck.

"You won't kill me?" She asked, sounding both hopeful and heartbroken. "Even if i ask?" Ranma responded by shaking his head in the negative, causing her to giggle as his whiskers gently scratched her neck.

"Where can I go? I've got nothing. I am nothing..." She said, falling into her spiral of depression again. Ranma walked away from her, shocking her. He turned around and made a sound similar to a bark, walked a few steps, then repeated the sounds.

"You want me to follow you?" The girl asked another obvious question. And received a nod and a flick of a tail.

After following Ranma, she found herself in the cave he lived in. Soon after that, she was guided by gentle head butts to the area of the floor he had softened for sleep. Soon after, she was asleep, the ordeals of the day far too much for her to handle. Inside Ranma felt a light. A voice. moving closer to the woman, he looked at the girl, then moved his nose to her forehead, and a luminous light came about. The girl glowed, and the bruises she had been developing started to fade away and the bleeding from between her legs stymied. Ranma smiled. She would be okay. As he tried to walk into another corner to sit down and watch her, he fell. And it kind of hurt. He stood up, but was surprised to find himself on two feet, with his hands held out infront of him. He yelled in shock, causing the girls eyes to open. She sat straight up, and looked in panic at Ranma, who was standing before her in all his glory, before suddenly, he shifted back into the tiger beast she knew before. Ranma sat and looked at her for a moment. She looked down at herself, and felt her face, and chest.

"What happened to me. What did you do?" She asked. Surprisingly enough, she was given an answer.

_I have made you whole again. You were in pain. I do not know why I did what I did, but it was the right thing to do. _A disembodied voice spoke to her in her mind. She looked at Ranma curiously for a second, then began asking him questions, every once in a while pausing to let him ask questions about what had happened. By the end of the night, she had gotten his name. Ranma. The name of a god, the name of the perfect man. The name of her saviour who wanted nothing in return.

After that night, she left, but returned as often as she could. While Ranma would always tell her not to return, for it was dangerous for her to be around a beast such as him, he never said it forcefully. Unfortunately, soon after that, the half dragon bastard had come, and taken away the only friend Ranma had ever had. Until now, Ranma had never really felt the loss of it, until she identified exactly what the girl had been to him. A friend. She didn't care if he was a beast. She didn't try and tame him like humans often did with beasts. She didn't try and kill him. She did nothing more than came to see him. Even after they couldn't talk to each other, she came by, often with gifts, and one time, with a bright, solid ball. It had been red, and Ranma had much fun with it, before it had been ripped to shreds. And the Bastard had taken that away. Tears leaked out of Ranma's eyes as she realized what she had lost. She'd never see So Fu Lan again.

"Ranma!?" Akane said, her voice full of concern. The little redhead beside her had stopped walking, and had a cloudy look in her eyes for a moment, before the tears had started coming. "Ranma, what's wrong!" Ranma didn't respond. "Its okay Ranma, i'm not sure what's wrong, but its okay?"

Ranma looked up at Akane, who was hugging her. "Not okay. But will be" she said, with a vicious look in her eyes, and voice.

"Are you sure Ranma?" Akane asked. When Ranma looked like that, she scared Akane. Something about it made her think of a wild animal about to attack.

"Yes. What wrong today, I fix tomorrow! I promise!" Ranma shouted in a happy voice. This time realizing that she could stop an event like what happened to her friend. That was all that mattered to Ranma.

Akane looked oddly at the redhead, she didn't make sense. But at least her mood was back where it was. Soon she dragged the girl into a clothing store, and spent the better part of two hours fitting stuff to Ranma. Ranma protested, and in the end, only got a few sports bras and some outfits that were just like her brother's, only smaller. Akane also convinced her to get a few pair of pajamas like hers, as well as some panties. Akane nearly freaked when she found out the girl had none, and was wearing the boxers her brother possessed. After Ranma had stormed out, muttering curses in chinese about uncomfortable clamping demons, Akane paid for what she had decided Ranma would wear, then followed her out, finding her sitting infront of a fountain pouting angrily.

"Go away. Ranma no more play doll!" she said angrily.

"I'm sorry Ranma. I was just having a little fun. Don't be angry. Its just how us girls bond" She said, and smiled at Ranma. As Ranma turned away Akane spoke again "How about I treat you to ice cream to make up for it."

"Ice cream?" Ranma looked at her.

"Yes, its one of the best foods in the world! You've never had any?" Akane couldn't believe it.

"No. Never" Ranma said.

"Well, we can fix that!" Akane again grabbed Ranma's arm, and dragged her to in the direction of her favorite ice cream parlor. After sitting Ranma down at one of the tables, Akane went to the counter, and got both herself and Ranma a double scoop of chocolate ice cream. Carrying the treats back to the table, Akane smiled. This would be a fun treat for Ranma. She looked at the cold confection infront of her, and pushed at it with her spoon. After Akane had started to take small spoonfuls, eating them slowly, and seeming to savor the taste, Ranma mimicked her.

"Mmm, is good!" Ranma squealed. She'd never had anything like this before. Not even the packaged food she stole from the campers. Ranma alternated between making sounds similar to purrs and mews as she kept eating, as well as some sounds that were normally reserved for activities that were done behind closed doors. Akane's face turned red. Soon, a few of the boys who were enjoying the show, decided to buy the cute girl some more ice cream, hoping to extend the show she was putting on. Ranma happily accepted the free treats, although only the chocolate ice cream had caused such a huge reaction. After much embarrassment on Akane's part, Ranma had gotten full, and they left.

"Akane... Thank you" Ranma said after they had been walking back in the direction of the Dojo for a short time.

"Ranma?" Akane asked.

"Thank you. You treat me like a friend. But should not. I am beast. Not person like you" Ranma said, looking sadly at the ground. "It not safe to be around me. People want to hurt me, if they find out what I am, people hate me"

"Ranma, what are you talking about?" Akane said. "We're friends. Nothing can change that. You're a little odd, but aside from that, you're my friend and _nothing could change that_."

Ranma lunged at Akane, who yelped at the glomp she received, dropping the bags she had in her hands. "Thank you" She murmured again. She had finally found a pack of her own, and she would protect it no matter what.

"Ranma, get up. People are looking at us weird. Ranma?" Akane said, then noticed the tears glistening in her eyes. "Ranma its okay. Lets go. We want to get back home before dinner right?" Ranma released Akane from her glomp, and then helped gather up the bags, picking up almost all of them without any real effort.

"Ranma can we talk for a bit?" Akane asked Ranma, as they walked back towards the Tendo dojo.

"Ok" Ranma said, turning to look at Akane.

"What do you think of your brother?"

"Kazu? He good brother. Always help me. Treat me nice. He good person. He don't like people getting hurt. Swimming from China, he offered help. I no need, but he offer. That get him killed. I think he give too much room to enemy. I won't let that happen. Will protect him" Ranma looked at Akane after finishing. "Why you want know?"

"Well, Gen was talking about him earlier." Akane said cautiously.

"What Gen say about brother?" Ranma said, a threatening tone in her voice.

"He said, that he seemed like a nice guy, and that I shouldn't judge him so quickly. He said that he could be a blessing if I gave him a chance. I don't know why he said that, but... He knows people. He works them, and gets the money to support our family by doing that. If he said that about him, I think, i might have been wrong about him. I'm Sorry" Akane said as they walked.

"It okay. Kazu is good brother. He forgive you. I know it." Ranma said, with a smile.

"Also Ranma..." Akane said, and Ranma looked at her. "Gen gave me all the money for the stuff today. He didn't even want you to know that he gave it to me. He just said to make sure we had fun. I haven't seen this side of him since... Mom died."

"Eh?" Ranma made a curious sound. she didn't really know what to say.

"I'm just saying... He seemed to genuinely want to help..." Akane said. As she was about to say something else, she heard a soft voice from behind her.

"Oh, my. If it isn't Kentarou's little sister Akane. Is this a new friend?" A tall girl with full brown hair said from behind them.

"Oh, Yumiko!" Akane said in surprise. "Its good to see you, this is Ranma. Her father, her brother, and her just moved in with us. We just went shopping for some new clothes for her."

"Oh? And why are they living with you?" Yumiko asked curiously.

"Fatman engaged Brother Kazuma and me to Ken, Gen, and Akane" Ranma said simply. Not noticing Yumiko's look of horror at that, she continued "But no be forced. Now, we just look for mother."

"Oh, isn't that nice?" Yumiko said,"So, what's this boy like Akane?"

"He's...Nice, but like the rest of his family he's a little odd. But unlike everyone else in the area, he hasn't done anything perverted yet." Akane stated simply.

"Well, that's nice. I was hoping you'd meet a nice boy someday soon. I wish you the best of luck, but I must get going. I will see you later Akane" Yumiko murmured, and turned to leave.

"Who was nice girl?" Ranma asked.

"That was Yumiko Tofu. She is a chiropractor that our family often sees. She's an excellent martial artist, and excellent at her job. Except when Ken's around. She gets... dangerous whenever she is around. She loses control of herself. We all know she really likes Ken, but the way she acts really puts him off" Akane said, shaking her head. "She's really a sweet person."

"Oh." Ranma seemed to think, then she turned around to Akane who was lagging behind her. "So Ken like her, or no?"

"I don't know. Sometimes he is kind to her, but that might just be Ken being Ken. He hates people being hurt, especially by him. And unless she can get over her nervousness, i don't think anything could come of it anyhow.

"So, Ken not like anybody?" Ranma said, looking back in the direction of the dojo.

"There is, at least I think so." Akane said. When she did, she noticed Ranma looked slightly crestfallen. "Ranma... Ken had been pretty much disconnected from the opposite sex before you came along. Sure he's gone on dates, but he's never found anyone who could hold his interest. They all either have no interest in cooking, or martial arts, or try and curb his interest in those areas, to make him more into their perfect boyfriend. You on the other hand are quite possibly one of the greatest martial artists I know, and you work with him in the kitchen. You're pretty much everything he's ever wanted."

Ranma looked at Akane, then nodded with a smile on her face. With that, they continued on their way. As they entered the yard, Ranma saw Kazuma, and the fatman fighting. She jumped in between them, slamming her fist into the fatman's gut. "You no hurt brother!"

Kazuma grabbed her from behind "Calm down Ranma! We were just sparing!"

Ranma looked over her shoulder at him,"What?"

Kazuma lowered his voice "Ranma, we were just playing. Having fun. It wasn't anything serious"

Stopping her struggling, Kazuma released her, and Ranma asked "Playing? Why play like that?"

"Because, its fun. And it makes us better martial artists." Kazuma looked at his sister.

"Why Kazu need that?" she asked.

"Because, we strengthen ourselves. We can also figure out our weaknesses, and fix, or mitigate them. And with our strengths, we can protect people important to us." Kazuma said to her.

"I want to too!" Ranma "I want to be able to protect Kazu too!"

"Then girl, you will train with us" Genma said from behind her, standing straight up, and putting off an air of competency rarely seen by him. "But you will refrain from anything beyond regular physical attacks. No Fire."

"Why? Fatman afraid of fire?" Ranma asked with a smirk.

"Foolish child. If you rely on nothing but your fire, then you will never get better. And when it fails you, you will be finished, because you will have nothing to fall back on. Besides, in training, we're not aiming to harm each other." Genma said, his arms crossed, looking down at a rebellious Ranma.

Ranma looked uncertain for a moment, then whispered. "What about... Other me?"

"That, is something that you should keep as under wraps as possible. You should let people meet, and acknowledge you as a person, or else they might treat you like a monster" Genma said seriously.

Ranma looked at him "I am not monster, I am beast."

"Ranma, you are my child. You are neither. And as long as i'm here, you will not have to rely on just your natural abilities. I shall train you like Kazuma, starting now!" Genma announced.

"Okay Fatman. I fight with you." Ranma said, slipping into a sloppy anything goes stance. Then launched herself at her father.

Genma dodged to the left, annoyed at how his daughter had taken him so literally when he said "starting now!". He dodged her attacks, thanking whatever would watch over someone like him that her form was so sloppy. He grabbed her by the ankle and then tossed her at the Koi pond. She landed with a splash, then flew out of the pond, her speed increasing, and her need to hit the fatman increasing every time he dodged. Ranma remembered how he had caught her leg, and then made another kick similar to the one he grabbed last time, but when he grabbed her ankle, she grabbed his wrist with her hands, and kicked off his arm with her other foot, breaking his hold and flipping him over her with the momentum she had created, launching him into the pond, then took up a position, staring at him with her hands on her hips.

"Decent girl. Your form needs to be reworked again. But adequate all things considered."

Ranma was gonna launch herself at him, for looking down at her like that when Kazuma interrupted, "He's right. You did good. Your form is a bit sloppy, but its still the anything goes. Although, I will say, that was amazing how you made him think you were making the same mistake twice, then turned it around on him. You might be almost as good as me if you train as hard as us!" Kazuma said, then laughed.

Soon after this, an exhausted Ranma, Kazuma and Genma entered the main part of the house. Ken was headed into the kitchen, which prompted Ranma to follow him. Assisting him with the cooking, and getting gently corrected by Ken on her Japanese, it was much like the morning and previous night. After a good dinner, Soun and Genma called the family together for a meeting.

Soun looked at them all then started, "Kazuma, Ranma, it has been wonderful meeting you. Since you two will probably be here for a time, i have convinced your father to let you attend school with my youngest son and daughter. We took care of the papers today, and you two are all set for tomorrow."

Kazuma groaned. "There isn't a way I can get out of this, is there?"

Ranma remembered school slightly. She had never been in one. When she was young though, her friend Uchan had spent the early part of her days in school. Thoughts of her father and her sitting around a fire every few nights, while he taught her to read flashed in her mind. "I never been to school before. Fatman teach me to read, before...bad thing happen"

Everyone looked at Ranma, and Genma spoke up "You don't need to talk about that right now Ranma. Just adjust to being back with me and your brother for now. Alright?" It sounded like he cared, but something inside of her told her that just because it sounded like he cared, didn't mean he really did. She fixed him with a hard stare then nodded slightly.

Ken looked at Ranma. What could have been the bad thing Ranma mentioned. Returning his focus to the conversation he then made a point "Ranma, why don't we spend some more time practicing your japanese tonight. You seem to be a quick learner, it should help in your first day of school then?"

"A good idea my boy!" Soun said. "You make your father proud, at this rate the schools will be united!"

Ranma looked confused for a moment, then it sunk in. Just as she was about to hit the foolish man, Ken beat her to it. Moving almost faster than she could follow, he pumped him on the head and said "Stupid old man, nothing like that is happening, at least not right now! You do anything to push this on anyone who doesn't want it, i'll make sure Akane gets to cook her heartfelt meals for you every single night" he said. Akane heard that she would get a chance to cook, and her eyes lit up, until she realized that her brother had used it as a threat.

"You jerk! I can cook just fine, right daddy!" Akane shouted..

"Um... um. Yes dear, but Ken is in charge of the kitchen." Soun said trying to avoid the point.

After some less meaningful small talk, and a fairly involved language lesson between Ranma and Ken, everyone retired for the night, with Ranma and Kazuma being the most excited about the next day. Kazuma remembered school fondly, and his rivalry with, someone. He just couldn't remember the person's name. And Ranma was happy she would be in a place to help her friend tomorrow.

---------

Well, that's all for now. Just as a warning, gonna be about two months before i can update again. Going over to play in the sandbox, so no internet. I'll still be writing though so i'll have more for you guys in march.


	9. Chapter 8

Ranma woke to noises outside. There was the sound of fighting outside. Shooting out of bed, and downstairs, she made her way to the back door. As Ranma opened it, she was greeted by the sight of her brother and father fighting with sticks. She watched as their blows rained on each other, to either be parried, dodged, or blunted with various blocks. She was shocked, as her brother stood on the end of the staff thrust at him, and returned with a quick snap of his wrist, sending Genma back five feet. Sudden realization hit her, she was being left out of the fun. As Kazuma crowed at Genma for his slowness, he was interrupted by a tackle from behind. "I win!"; Ranma yelled as she stood on his back.

"Hey, get off me sis!" Kazuma yelled as he rolled to the side, and jumped up. "That was a cheap shot!

"Martial artists life is full of perils, no? Should be prepared for danger at all times!" Ranma stated, a brilliant smile on her face and a twinkle in her eye. She remembered this. Memories, she knew the word now, hit her. She remembered sometimes laughing, sometimes crying, but always moving forward, and getting better.

"What did you say?" Genma said from behind the two of them, who were facing each other. The girl had just stated one of the prime tenants he used to spout when he was raising him... her.

"It's true. You taught me that. Right, fatman?" Ranma said, with a flippant tone glancing at her father.

"That doesn't matter. You might be my sister, but when we spar..." Kazuma stated trailing off, then his form blurred, and he appeared to her side, grabbed her pajama shirt, and threw her towards the sky.

As he kneeled, and then jumped as high as he could, he caught up to her quickly. Exchanging blows with her, his eyes were different. She was another martial artist to him now. His fists moved faster and faster, overwhelming her weak defense. "I won't hold back!" he yelled as he clipped her shoulder, she went spinning end over end towards the wall. What he didn't expect, was for her to hit the wall on her feet, and propel herself off the wall to slam her shoulder into his stomach, causing them both to hit the ground and roll.

"Hah, that teaches you to be overconfident boy. Just because she's sloppy, doesn't mean you can underestimate her. Your sister has always had some of the quickest reactions and best adaptability I've seen in my years as a martial artist." Genma said as the two picked themselves off the ground. "But that's enough anyhow. You should both get cleaned up for school. Kazuma, go first. I've got something i wish to talk to your sister about." As Kazuma shrugged, then headed off to wash off the sweat and dirt from the morning work out Genma turned again to face Ranma. "Ranma, until he gets done, i'm going to show you some of the basic Kata that i taught you long ago. I want you to practice these every morning and evening. As you master them, I'll teach you more. Understand?"

Ranma looked at him, unsure of what to say. The fatman seemed to be different than he used to be. "Ok. Show me". And with that they started to rebuild the basics of Ranma's art.

After both the Saotome children had cleaned up, Ken came out with breakfast that he had prepared while they were sparring, and cleaning. Ranma thanked him enthusiastically, causing him to turn away with a blush. After they had finished, Ranma pulled Kazuma and Akane up, saying she wanted to get to school.

"Why are you in such a hurry?" Akane asked curiously.

"Because, I want to see what school is like" Ranma said. It was true. She wanted to see school. She also wanted to see this pack of monsters stopped before they could hurt her friend. she couldn't kill them, but she could still hurt them.

As they got out of the dojo with their bags and bentos in hand, Kazuma jumped onto the fence, and stood there a moment while Ranma and Akane looked at him oddly.

"Why are you up there Kazu?" Ranma asked curiously.

"A true martial artist can turn anything into training" he responded offhandedly, and then ran towards the school. Ranma jumped up after him, matching his speed. Akane was huffing and puffing as she tried to keep up with these two monsterously powerful martial artists. If she had any doubts about how far their abilities eclipsed hers, they were gone now. As she made it to the school ground, she saw the horde waiting for her, and sighed. She would have to fight to get into the school again.

"Akane. These people. They are the ones you... spoke of yesterday?" Ranma asked, an edge in her voice, even as she tried her best to use the correct words.

"Yeah. They're a pain in my butt. I don't mind that beating them helps me train, but they make me late a lot." Akane said, annoyed. As she said that, shouts of love and adoration came from the encrouching wave of hormones known as the hentai horde.

"No let... I won't let them hurt you" Ranma said, a viciousness in her voice like Akane had heard the night before. Ranma jumped forward, planting foot and fist into tender, and painful spots. A boy with a hocky stick was the first to fall. His face mask split into pieces, his nose crushed. She growled as she spun her leg around, catching two more boys, these from the karate club, in the face sending them back far. The Hentai horde saw that the boys that Ranma got to were getting seriously hurt. Akane and Kazuma could only stand and watch as Ranma went around, with the attitude and bearing of an angry predator, attacking hamstrings, faces, chests, and throats. People were getting thrown around like Rag dolls. As the last of the boys fell to the ground, a young man in a hamaca steps out, at the same moment a flash of lightening arcs across the sky.

"Ah fair maiden Akane, you bless us with your presence on such a day, today i will show you that the feelings that i have for you!" kuno proclaimed, while striking a heroic pose.

"Are you the alpha male of these people?" Ranma asks,

"That I am, fair maiden" Kuno responds with much respect, while pondering the off use of language coming from such a beautiful girl.

"Leave Akane alone!" Ranma demands "No warning after this..."

"Why should I leave the beautiful tigress alone? She loves me, she just doesn't know how to show it. But i will show her how!" Kuno shouted with conviction, showing how complete self delusion can be.

"Then..." Ranma blurred forward like her brother had done that morning, grabbed his shirt, and then threw him in the air. Jumping after a slightly paniced Kuno, she slammed her palms into both shoulders, hearing a satisfying pop in each. "I'll kill you before you can hurt her!" Ranma screamed. Kuno screamed too, but his were rooted in pain. Ranma followed up with two kicks to the chest that sent him into the ground. Tears of anger in her eyes, Ranma lifted her fist over the prone figure of the kendoist. Speaking in a low hiss, Ranma stated "I promised brother I wouldn't hurt anyone if i could help it. But you... I won't let another friend get... I won't let you... You won't hurt her like _she _was hurt!" As she was about to bring her fist down to crush his skull, she felt a tug. She couldn't move her arm, and she found out that she was being held by both Akane and Kazuma. She struggled against their combined strength trying to break free. Why didn't they realize that she was protecting Akane! They had to let her go!

"Let go! Let go now!" Ranma shouted.

"Ranma, you have to stop. Please!" Akane yelled at the struggling girl.

"No let him hurt you! Never forgive self if he hurts you! Not let it happen again!" Ranma screamed, her language becoming rougher as she struggled. "Not fail another friend!"

Kazuma sighed. He wished it hadn't come to this, but he jumped back, pulled his broom off his back, and slammed it into the back of Ranma's head, and she was out like a light. "Sorry sis, I know you meant well, but...I won't let you have blood on your hands. But, if he was trying to..." Kazuma looked over at Kuno, who had tears in his eyes, shaking his head.

"My dear Akane..." Kuno looked at her as he managed to bring himself to a kneeling position, both arms hanging limply at his side.

"What do you want, Kuno" Akane said, sympathy for the pain the boy must feel leaking into her voice.

"Do you, really think that i would do something like that to you? All the contest was for, was to see who was strong enough to date you, to match your fiery personality. I, i'm sorry if you thought that was what i was trying to do." He repositioned himself, bowing to the ground infront of her despite his arms hanging limply. "I am sorry."

"Kuno, I know you. You're too dense and honorable to do that." Kuno's face was alight with the _praise_ he gained from the girl, at least the closest he'd ever gotten to actual praise. But it quickly subsided as she continued "But the other guys, they're not. And you encouraged that. You've made my life... Hell. Kuno, i think..." Again his face lit up in hope for of the proclamation that she would make. "I think... I hate you. I think i really, really hate you." Akane said, tears in her eyes. "My life has been hell, and you've been having a ball making my life miserable because of that stupid dream world you live in. I..." Akane ran away crying.

Kazuma looked at Kuno. "I'm sorry for my sister. I didn't think she would do something like this. But with her, limited understanding of people... She sometimes comes to the wrong conclusions..." he said to the prone boy.

"It is I who should be sorry. I did not know that people thought... that i was trying to..." Kuno trailed off. "But it sounds like... your sister, encountered something like this before, but failed to save her friend. It is only natural to protect people you care about... I guess I'm a fool, and i've lost." Kuno collapsed back, looking into the sky. The woman he had loved, hated him, and for good reason. He would no longer persue her. but if it was ever needed, he would be there to protect her, to show his true feelings. Everyone was surprised by who responded a moment or two after Kuno had looked up at the sky, subdued.

"Ya got that right, kuno." Surprisingly, it was Genzinan, who said this from over Kuno. "You look like crap."

"Ah, the mercenary Tendo. How should I look when I am not only brutally beaten in combat, but then find the object of my affections feels..." Kuno trails off.

"Yeah well, i guess all things considered, you're lucky to be alive. My sister alone wouldn't have been able to save you, I think. Anyhow, lets get you to the Nurses office. I think we should get you looked at. Akane, get Ranma and Kazuma to class okay?" Gen bent down, picking the pained, semi conscious Kuno off the ground, none too gently, and walked towards the nurses office.

After being treated by Kimiko Tofu who had been called in for the emergency , Kuno sat up in the bed and looked at Gen who was still waiting for for his best customer to come to. "So, you really done with Akane?" Gen asked

"Yes. It is apparent that the tigress that i sought so passionately, has been pushed away by my very attempts to endear myself to her" Kuno said, then looked at Gen, "May i ask, who those two were, and what relation they have to your family?"

"Friends of the family who are staying with us, for now." Gen said cautiously.

"That is all the girl is?" Kuno responded.

Gen looked at him for a moment, then said "Our fathers made a pact that they would marry our families together-"

"Ah, so the fierce Akane will have a strong, passionate man who will be fortunate enough bask in her perfection, i heartily approve! But then what doth remain for the fiery beauty of his sister? Fear not, I Tatiwaki Kuno, shall stand by her side, and give her the companionship she so deserves!"

Gen smirked, it appeared Kuno was as stupid as they came. It was okay, Gen could somehow use this to his advantage. As Kuno rattled on about the virtues of his newfound love, Gen took his leave, laughing quietly at the stupidity of some people.

Ranma looked at Kazuma out of the corner of her eye. She was standing up infront of everyone, and they were staring at her. Unconciously her left foot came off the ground slightly, and started scuffing the floor behind her right foot.

"Class, we have two new students today, Ranma, and Kazuma Saotome. They are both just recently returning from a trip to China with their Father. Would you like to introduce yourselves?" The teacher asked looking at Ranma, and Kazuma.

Kazuma, nodded, looking his sister. She seemed nervous, so he decided he would go first. "My name is Saotome Kazuma. For the past ten years, my father, my sister, and I have been on a training trip to better ourselves in our art. I'm the best martial artist of my generation!" He said, looking with a cocky grin at everyone in the class, causing Akane to put her face in her hand.

The teacher looked at Ranma, who nodded, then spoke carefully and measured. "I'm Saotome Ranma. I've spent the majority of my life in China. I was separated from my father and Kazuma for a time when i was younger, but thankfully, an older woman named Cologne found me, and took care of me until they found me again. I can speak Chinese very well, although my Japanese isn't as good as it probably should be." Ranma looked at Kazuma, then deviated from her speech she had prepared with Ken last night "And Kazuma is wrong. I'm the most powerful martial artist of our generation! I'm also prettier than him too!" She looked over at him, and stuck her tongue out playfully, causing him to fight between scowling at her playfully or laughing.

"Isn't that... Interesting. Well, Kazuma, you can take the seat next to Gosunkugi. Ranma, you take the seat next to Akane." The teacher said, while thinking about how much trouble these two would probably cause to his class, but at least the problem with the principle's son looked like it had been solved, although there were a few boys from his class missing from that little incident this morning. He'd have to keep an eye on Ranma, although from what he heard, he doubted that anything like that would happen again. After the two had taken their seats, he took out two new textbooks, and then had them passed back to Ranma and Kazuma, and with that class started.

After class, Ranma was tired. She'd never really learned to read well, but it was starting to come back to her. She had been embaressed when a few of the girls had laughed at her inexperience reading. Her face turned red, and she was torn between wanting to hit the girls who were mocking her like this, and run away from embarrassment. She was saved when the teacher yelled at the girls that made the snide comments, and told them to go and wait out in the hall. "Now, Ranma, don't let them disturb you. You may not be able to read very well, but you'll get better." Ranma struggled through class trying to keep up as best as she could, but had a very tough time with things that were being read. After class was over, the teacher called out "Ranma, may i see you please?" As she came up to him, looking at her feet, he said "Ranma, I'd like to talk to you about something... Have you ever been to school?" As he asked this, Ranma shook her head. "How did you learn to read then. You're slow, but you do have some knowledge"

Ranma looked at him, then Said "Fa... Father taught me how to read when i was younger. But, then we got separated."

"Really... When, did he find you again?" the teacher inquired.

"About... a month ago." Ranma said.

"And, how old were you when you got... separated from them?" The teacher asked, not sure if he really wanted to know the answer.

"I was... seven, i think. I can't really remember too well" Ranma said. She didn't like this focus on her. She'd been feeling stupid through her first class. Now she knew why Kazuma hadn't wanted to come to school today. School was a horrible place.

"Hmm. That's amazing, that you have stayed in China, with such limited education, and have managed to at least struggle through class today. I'm going to set up a tutor for you in the next few days. We'll see what we can do to assist you with this, problem you have." He said, and as he watched Ranma avert her head, and look away as she nodded, he continued "I admire how you hung in there today. I don't think even i would have been able to stay here with the way things were going. Don't worry. You seemed to remember and understand everything we said, so I'll see what i can set up with you for testing, and assessment, until we can get your reading and writing skills up to where they need to be. Just remember, as long as you keep working, I'll do everything in my power to make sure you won't fail, okay?"

Ranma looked at him, and smiled, nodding. "Thank you" she said, tears shinning in her eyes.

"Don't worry about it, now get out of here. You've got another class to get to" The kindly older man said.

Kazuma's end of the first class of the day was less happy. When he fell asleep in class, he had to go hold up buckets in the hall. Ah well, same old same old. Too bad, that boy he used to fight wasn't here. That made school fun, and useful. Ah well, that didn't matter. He didn't like how Ranma had struggled through. He hated watching that, so he decided he would sleep through the class, since there wasn't anything he could to to help her. He'd never been good in school anyhow. He looked up at the ceiling. He'd noticed Akane had gotten annoyed at him when he fell asleep. He wondered, would he be able to help Ranma if he were better in school. He made a silent nod to himself. He'd try to get better, so that he could help his sister.

Ranma, and Kazuma both struggled through their days for different reasons, and when it was over, both were more than happy to be heading back home. As they run along the top of the fence, both trying to work off the frustrations of their day, they amazed everyone with the acrobatic feats they accomplish. As they bolt, Akane simply sighs, and walks back towards home, not wanting to try and keep up with them.

As they reach home, Kazuma and Ranma both notice the the dojo was full with people, and that Genma, Soun, and Ken were all standing infront of a group of students, running them through a fairly simple Kata, then moving into more and more complex ones. Some of the students stumble, but keep going as the Kata's got to a difficulty, that all but the three in front were having trouble staying standing as the speed they were moving at increased. Ranma and Kazuma both sat watching in interest.

These Kata were very different from the ones that they already knew. These all seemed to ground into using the earth as a brace, be it for attacking, or defending, while almost everything they have been taught in their style was about mid-air attacks, and always moving fast, not being chained to the ground in combat. These katas used the ground, but it wasn't like being chained as he felt with most styles. The forms and attacks presented, showed more of using the earth as an ally, allowing you to bring more into whatever you were doing. Kazuma's eye's gleamed with the same light they always did when a new style presented itself. Ranma on the otherhand, was watching as her father, Soun, and Ken were all moving with a fluidity and grace that she could only associate with a true beast. Fists and feet, instead of claws and paws. They were true beasts, like her, teaching and guiding the young, and as she watched she felt her respect for all three increase a little bit, although she'd never admit to respecting Genma at all.

After the classes were done, and the students had left for the night, Kazuma watched Ranma head into the house, to try and track down Ken to assist him with dinner and get what freebies she could. He had more important things on his mind though. He jumped down and drop kicked his unsuspecting father who rolled a few feet with the impact.

"I see you're in quite the mood" Genma said amused at his son, and the smirk he had. He always got like this when a style was introduced to him. He loved drinking up the new styles and skills, and Genma knew for a fact that he probably saw alot that he liked, since this style was nearly as formidable as their own.

"Why didn't ya tell me that the other side of anything goes was like this?" Kazuma asked.

"Because, there was no need. You needed to be concerned about learning other styles, and bringing them into your own form of the art." Genma said offhandedly.

"What?" Kazuma asked, kinda dumbfounded.

"You see, kazuma, the art that we have, the Anything Goes, is an art that you will never truely stop learning and growing with. We take everything we see, and integrate it." Genma said in a scholarly fashion.

"I know that already you pops! My question still stands, why did we not learn this style at first when we left? You can't tell me that it wouldn't have made me stronger."

"Because, the two styles are opposites. Where as we fly free of the ground, the Tendo side uses it as an ally. It is impossible to truely integrate these two styles, but instead to master them both." Genma replied, starting at the Dojo he'd just exited.

"So what you're saying, is that I can master them both, but i'd have to switch between two completely different styles on the move?" Kazuma asked mystified.

"Yes, and to do something like that, you must learn to be adaptable, and have enough experience in the arts that can bridge them, because they don't take either style to the extreme. You are ready for it now, you were not ready for it before. Do you understand?"

"Quite right Genma" said the until now unnoticed Soun Tendo, "This is why we wished to marry our heirs and combine the schools, because they would then teach each other the different forms of martial arts, and in a way bring harmony to them. As it stands, only one person, who's name shall not be spoken, has ever masters both sides of the art, the dreaded one we called... Master" with the final word spoken the two men shuddered, and seemed not to want to talk anymore.

An awkward silence lingered until they heard Ranma call out "Dinner's done!' and they all headed inside, with Kazuma having something to think about.

After dinner, Ranma spent some more time being tutored by Ken in Japanese, but tonight it expanded into some written portions, and easier math problems after he had heard of the terror of a day she'd had. Much to Ken's surprise, Ranma's quick mind caught onto all these things fairly fast, and before they knew it, three hours had passed, and Genma walked up to Ken's room, and called out "Time for bed Ranma, you've got school in the morning." in something akin to a warm, fatherly tone.

With a lingering look at the door after Ranma had left his room, Ken sighed, straighted his room up, and got ready to go to sleep, wondering if he'd wake up from this pleasant, if insane dream he was almost convinced he was having.


End file.
